Vanguard
by de4deye117
Summary: After leaving the Jedi Order, young Ahsoka Tano is now at the end of her useful career. That was until an unlikely ally presents her a second chance at life to help unravel the mystery behind an enigmatic being from beyond the rim.
1. Just a nickname

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 1**

**"****Just a nickname"**

[19 BBY, Late months of the Clone Wars]

[Coruscant, Sector B-32]

Former Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress was making her way to the nearest space port to leave Coruscant sometime after helping a _'__friend'_ with some trouble with the Jedi Order. She was passing a small bridge crossing over one of the many crevices that led down further into the planet-size metropolis when she spotted a pair of members of the Coruscant guard adorned in their usual red and white phase-2 battle armor armed with a riot shield and the compact but deadly DC-15S blaster. She nonchalantly turned her face hoping her brown cloak would help her not grab the guards' attention as they passed by.

"You placing bets on the next pod race Briner?" one trooper asked to the other.

"Nah, been losing too many credits on bets recently, think I'm gonna sit this one out" the other replied.

As the troopers passed Asajj she faced forward once more, having to avoid the clones was one of the many reasons she wanted to get off-world as soon as possible. They're easy to kill no doubt but she rather get out of here without a Republic cruiser chasing her down, the sector was still brimming with clone activity due to the recent events involving her _'__friend'. _After walking for several more minutes getting ever so closer to the nearest port Asajj was presented a new problem, a military checkpoint manned by troopers of the 719th Guard Division. There was no way for her to make it through without being recognized by the guards which would force her to just slaughter them all, fortunately Asajj wasn't one for taking main routes, thanks to her training as an assassin she was used to using 'back roads' to reach her objective. She noticed an alleyway to her left between a food stand selling fruit and a droid repair shop not too far from the checkpoint; she decided that this was going to be her only way to get through. At the next bridge crossing she took a left and snuck into the alleyway, normally the alleys would be filled with the poor or low-life scum but something was different. The alley was near empty with an exception of a few Jawas and what looked like an unusually large broken down droid, she couldn't care less about the Jawas normally but something about them disturbed her. The Jawas were known to be seasoned scavengers when it came to droids, but these Jawas were utterly afraid of the broken down droid that sat against the wall across the alley from them. As a precaution she slowed down, either that droid was still active and presumed very dangerous or these Jawas were simply acting out in paranoia.

As she approached with caution, one of the Jawas ran to confront her waving its arms indicating danger and for her to turn back. The Jawa then notices Asajj's lightsaber and then suddenly urged her to see about the droid and deal with it. Normally she would ignore its plead but something still bothered her, the only thing that was causing such a disturbance was the hopefully deactivated droid that sat there.

Asajj spoke in her usual cold tone "I'm doing this for myself not for you. Stand aside."

The Jawas did as they were told and left the alleyway, when they were gone Asajj decided to examine the droid from a distance just to be safe. It looked to be a mix between a clone's Phase-2 armor but yet with the potential looks of a commando droid used by the Separatists Alliance, it's steel black armor covered only the major body areas with the exception of the waist area which was only covered by a flexible black suit. She steps to the side to get a better view, on the side of the head was a white marking printed on the side, these marking were very unusual and she had never seen before, the marking simply appeared as [Mk. V E.O.D.]. Walking back in front of it, she decided to take a risk and kneel down to take a better look at it; she rests her left hand on the droid's right shoulder and tried to make out some of the white markings that were printed on his chest, markings such as [U.N.S.C. and Mk. V MJOLNIR], she then took hold of the droid's head and began expecting it carefully turning the head around to get a closer look.

"Mm. . . ugh" the droid groaned as Ventress raised its head.

Asajj leaped back quickly and drawn her lightsaber hilts in preparation for battle, that is until she saw how damaged it was . . . or wounded. Normally droids don't feel pain, 'So why this one?' she wondered, she puts one of her sabers away and approached the being carefully. The being raised its head and caught sight of her, the two simply stared at one another while Ventress was planning on a counter-move if it attacked. Then she realized what was really causing such a disturbance, the being was clearly organic and hurt but the real problem was 'Why can't I sense anything from it!?' she thought frantically.

She stared into the black visor and demanded in her cold voice "Who are you, answer me!"

The being simply stared at her for the quietest moment then said in a in a weak but deep male voice "You . . . first."

Normally Asajj would end its miserable life but its 'unique' abilities was the only thing keeping her from striking it down with her red blade, and despite its clearly obvious state of health Asajj was not willing to underestimate its potential strength and power and decided to oblige its request.

"I am Asajj Ventress . . . now you" she ordered.

The being coughed lightly the answers ". . . Longarm."

"What kind of name is that?" Ventress asked with a hint of frustration.

"Just a nickname" the being answered.

Longarm moved his arm and grabbed hold of a nearby crate and began painstakingly pulling himself to his feet. Ventress took a step back as she hadn't anticipated its height at around seven feet tall compared to her near six feet height. She raised the tip of her blade against Longarm's neck as a sign to keep his distance.

"Stand down Ventress" Longarm demanded with a cool head towards the situation.

"There is something odd about you and I intend to find out what . . . even if it means killing you" Asajj warned.

Longarm stood there quietly staring at her and the blade and then said with a calm eerie tone "Have it your way . . ."

The SPARTAN prepared himself for a difficult fight, judging from Ventress's body she was quick and agile relying on speed to her advantage. Her red blade reminded him of a Sangheili's _Type-1 Energy Sword_, he also knew that Ventress had an invested interest in him for some reason so there was no way she would kill him because she needed him alive for something, 'Might as well make her work for it' he thought.

The SPARTAN threw a quick left punch and caught Ventress by surprise as it connected with her lower jaw, she staggered back several steps then came charging back swing the blade up high in an effort to decapitate him. He quickly ducks avoiding the blade and takes several steps back, he finds a broken pipe and picks it up, by the time he got his sights back on Ventress she had already leaped into the air and now coming down with two blades. Longarm hastily raises the pipe in defense but his opponent's blades had cut right through them with no effort, he tosses what remains of the pipe aside and prepared for a counter-move. As expected she swings both of her blades from the right and in response he performs an acrobatic maneuver by throwing himself into the air between the two blades and landed on his two feet. Ventress's facial expression indicates that she had not anticipated that sort of move as the SPARTAN charges in and performs a roundhouse kick sending her into a wall; she quickly recovers and lets out a war cry as she charges against him. Longarm grinned underneath his helmet for this was a mistake on her behalf, the moment she came into arm's length the SPARTAN quickly disarmed the former assassin of her sabers and held her in a sleep hold hoping to render her unconscious. It was a sure victory as Ventress began to black out until an invisible force grabbed him and hurled him into the air and slamming him into the ground with force. Longarm looks around to find the source until he realizes that the source was coming from Ventress herself who was on her knees attempting to bring air into her lungs, the SPARTAN was then repeatedly slammed into the side of the building and pinned there as Ventress picks up her sabers and holds them right against his neck. However Longarm was not finished just yet as he used his augmented strength and fought against the power of what ever held him in midair against the wall; his right arm slowly began to reach out for Ventress until she threw him into the ground and held him up once more above the ground. Suddenly her powers began to squeeze around his neck and he began to suffocate, the SPARTAN struggled to fight against whatever supernatural power she possesses but his chances were now fading as his vision begins to grow dim, moments later his body began to go numb and eventually Longarm passed out.

Asajj was taken by surprise at how strong and agile Longarm was despite his previously assumed condition, she lets go of his body letting him hit the ground with a loud thud. She knew that she had to find answers about this mysterious warrior, she knows very well that Count Dooku will kill her despite her intriguing find and the Jedi Order will sentence her to prison. As she kneeled down by the unconscious warrior she began to think deeply, wondering who was able to help her without being imprisoned or dead, and then she remembered someone who she had helped before not too long ago. She stood up and lifted Longarm with the force and began heading towards the space port.

It was a near fifteen minute stroll through the network of alleyways until she finally reached a vantage point overlooking the port; the port was bustling with civilian commerce and the clone military forces that were stationed there. It would prove to be very difficult to get off-world with all the security, then again this time she wasn't looking for a way to leave Coruscant, at least not yet. Not only was the port filled with interstellar spacecraft but it was swarming with speeders she could commandeer for her little road trip, she finds a suitable speeder that was large enough to carry the surprisingly heavy soldier and fast enough to evade the clones should things go bad. She turns around and hid Longarm behind a dumpster and buried him with garbage bags for her quick return, she then made her way towards the landing platforms in order to steal the speeder.

Several minutes passed as Ventress sneaked through the first set of clone guards which was easy enough. She blended in along with the crowd that was coincidentally moving in the same direction towards the speeder on their way to a transport to take off-world. When Asajj got close enough she broke away from the crowd and casually walked towards the speeder, she carefully watched for any movement until something to her left caught her attention, what happened was that a pair of carrier droids accidently dropped a crate of supplies and luggage starting a commotion that attracted several guards. She continued watching the event and walking until she accidently bumped into someone in front of her, she turned and found that she bumped into the back of a clone guard who was now turning around and faced her.

"Hey watch where you're going!" the clone barked.

Asajj did her best attempt at an innocent voice without showing her face "I-I'm sorry sir, I wasn't paying attention."

Another trooper came by and shoved the first out of the way saying "Hey lay off Kor! Sorry miss, Kor here is just a bit stressed that's all."

"I can't imagine, with you being soldiers of the Republic and all" Ventress states hoping to get away as soon as possible.

"Yeah it's hard work. You better get moving along now miss" the trooper said politely.

Asajj then started to walk away quickly but carefully, that was too close even for her. She continued on her designated path towards the speeder until something large came by and accidently knocked her over onto her side and knocked one of her saber hilts off of her belt and exposed itself. One of the troopers from before heard the thud and turned around in time to see Ventress on the ground and a hilt lying on the ground.

The trooper takes a better look at the hilt and Ventress's struggle to hide again and mutters "I remember that saber . . ."

He then saw Ventress's face as she looked around wondering if anyone saw and then called out to every other trooper nearby "IT'S VENTRESS! GET HER!"

Asajj looked in every direction and found clone guards rushing towards her with weapons raised, the civilians began a panic as the troopers closed in. She then darted for the speeder ignoring the chaotic crowd hoping that would slow the guards in pursuit, to her right a pair of troopers were in the clear and began firing blue bolts of highly concentrated energy at her. She reached the speeder climbing into the driver seat and began the ignition procedure, more troopers began to open fire but it was too late as the speeder took off with several stray shots darting out towards it but none hit their mark. She quickly made it back to the hiding place and began digging out Longarm; she only had a few precious minutes before the clone gunships would be on top of her and have her cornered. She lifts the one ton soldier up and into the speeder in the back passenger seat; she spots the police dropships inbound fast as she climbed back into the driver seat and took off with the dropships not too far behind.

Former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano was resting in her rented apartment room several kilometers away from the Jedi Temple after leaving the Order. She sat on the end of her bed as she held her lightsabers in her hands remembering all the times she had with her former master and friends, though the Clone Wars rages on in the galactic outer-rim Ahsoka has finished her tour of duty indefinitely. A tear came down from her eye as she imagines how much pain Skywalker must be in, she knows that he will eventually pull through and continue on as a Jedi but he will not forget her. Her plans were to spend the night in the apartment and when tomorrow comes, she will wonder about the stars looking for something to do. She lays her lightsaber on the nightstand next to her bed, turned out the lights, lay down in her bed and closed her eyes. It was just before an hour later when she woke up to someone knocking on her bedroom window, she felt a familiar presence as she reaches for her lightsabers in preparation for an attack. She stood up with her saber ready to activate and slowly walked towards the window where a dark figure stood there knocking with their knuckles. She then opens the window letting in a nice breeze of air flow through and backs away letting the figure come in, the figure then used the force and turned the lights on revealing herself to Ahsoka.

"What do you want Ventress?" Tano asked coldly waiting for an attack.

"What? No hello it's good to see you again Ventress? Not even an insult? I'm hurt" Ventress sarcastically comments as she reaches out with the force to something outside.

"Why are you even here?" Tano asked not letting her guard down.

"To show you something that I found intriguing" Asajj states as she pulls in a large object through the window.

When the object came into the light of the room, it looked like a large droid that took some damage from a fight not too recently. She watched as Asajj placed the droid on her bed unusually gently and stepped away allowing her to walk over and examine it.

After a brief examination, Tano concludes "It's just a broken down droid . . . what's so interesting about it?"

"Take a look one more time, this time more carefully" Ventress said almost frustrated with Tano's inadequate examination.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes not believing the ridiculous situation Ventress brought upon her, she checks over the droid more carefully just to find that it's not a droid, but a living being. She glanced down at the stomach section of the being and watched it go up and down gradually as the being breathed; the armor was somewhat similar to a clone's but the entire physiology was all wrong for it to be a clone at all.

She turned towards Ventress and asked "Where and how did you even get him?"

Ventress had her arms crossed as she answered "It's a long and complicated story, but I would be careful around him. I found him near dead and even then he almost had me, I only survived because of the force."

"Really? You?" Tano comments intending it to be an insult to Asajj's skills in combat.

"Real funny, tell me if something strikes you odd about him" Ventress said not moving from her

Tano then knew that this person was extremely dangerous if he was able to overwhelm Asajj in hand-to-hand combat especially if said person was in a critical state. She continued examining until she found several strange white markings on the black armor plating; she couldn't even make out the weird language at all.

As she held up the being's arm to feel the flexible body suit she asked "Did you even catch his name before knocking him out?"

"He only gave me a nickname, Longarm. Then I 'kindly' asked to come with me and that's when he attacked" Asajj recollects from earlier that day.

Ahsoka scoffs and said "Somehow I think your definition of 'kindly' didn't agree with his. Either I'm honestly surprised that someone was able to beat you in hand-to-hand."

Asajj frowned at Tano then grudgingly states "I'll take that as a compliment."

Ahsoka returned to examining Longarm until she noticed something she didn't realize at first. Despite that this was an organic being and that he was clearly alive, she could not sense the force within him. She was dumbstruck but she pulled herself together 'Maybe it's a species that doesn't contain Midi-chlorians in their bloodstream' she thought but there was no species that she could think of that can live without the life sustaining micro-organism.

She took several steps back turning towards Asajj and asked "What is this thing?"

"I don't know that's why I brought him to you" Ventress states.

"What makes you think I can do something about it?" Ahsoka states with arrogance.

Ventress states "Watch and study him, we are dealing with something even your Jedi council can't comprehend. Until we understand who and what he is, we can only watch."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Tano asked waiting for Asajj to reveal her ingenious plan.

"Well it's obvious that we can't watch him here with clones walking about, you need to take him somewhere where we can watch him without the intrusion of anyone else."

"Wait me? Why me!?"

"I had a run-in with some guards earlier today; I can only make it off-world alone without attracting too much attention. You on the other hand can go without any complications at all; once we're out we can decide on where to go from that point."

Asajj began walking towards the open window when Ahsoka asked "How am I supposed make him come along with me? You forced him into a fight you nearly lost!"

Ventress turned around one last time and makes her last statement "You forget, you're not me . . ." and climbs out closing the window behind her.

Tano sighed heavily as she turned towards the unconscious soldier lying on her bed, 'No way I'm going to let him sleep with me just so he can snap my neck in the middle of the night' she thought to herself. She used the force and lifted Longarm off of the bed and took him into the living room and gently laid him on a couch, thankfully the couch's metal support frame is strong enough to hold his weight but it was clear as the couch creaked after releasing the full weight.

After making sure Longarm was still out like a light, she quietly turns back into her room closing the door behind her and locking the door, she then turned out the lights and climbed into bed with her lightsaber close by. At first it was hard for her to fall asleep knowing that a locked door was the only thing standing between her and a potentially dangerous man, eventually her eyes grew heavy and finally convinced the former Jedi to fall asleep.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	2. Keep your distance

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 2**

"**Keep your distance"**

[Coruscant, Sector A-47]

Ahsoka was beginning to wake up to the early light of dawn, she opened her eyes but they refused to stay open for long. 'That was a weird dream . . .' she thought to herself as she pushed herself to get up, as she sat up in her bed she stretched out her arms and yawned for a moment then finally gets up and walks to the door that was locked. At first she didn't remember locking the door for whatever reason and decided to just unlock it and get something to eat, she opens the door and walks into the living room where she immediately stopped in her tracks as she now remembers why she locked the door in the first place. The being called Longarm still laid on the couch unconscious from the fight with Ventress yesterday, the giant soldier still laid in the same way where she had left him but Tano was unwilling to go near him just yet. Her stomach growled convincing her to move on into the small kitchen next to her and find something to appease its hunger; she walks towards the kitchen slowly without taking her eyes off of Longarm in case he was now awake and just simply waiting for the right moment to attack. She opens a refrigerator and manages to grab a carton of Jawa juice and a plate of leftovers from last night sometime before Ventress brought him into her apartment; she closes the refrigerator and decided to eat at the small kitchen table where she could keep an eye on him as she began eating.

It wasn't till she nearly finished her food when she began to hear the soldier stir and groan. She immediately gets up and confronts the being for the first time as she prepares her lightsabers for action, she watched Longarm slowly move his right hand to his helmet and grip firmly around it indicating a migraine when he looked away from the lightbulb above him.

He groaned for another few seconds until he muttered "Augh . . . That was one helluva dream."

He reached out for something out of his reach and accidently fell off the couch and onto the floor with a loud thud. Ahsoka took several steps back as she watched the being slowly get up to his feet, he was somewhat still disoriented as he stumbled back and forth several times but maintained his equilibrium and stood up with only a foot to spare from his helmet to the ceiling.

The SPARTAN didn't remember being in an apartment complex overlooking a vast city as he glanced out the window, he then turned around and noticed this orange humanoid female wielding similar a weapon that Ventress had with her.

He quietly stares at the prepared person and asked "This isn't a dream is it?"

"Afraid not . . ." she replied while maintaining her posture.

He looks around the room and quickly found the front door, the moment he took his first step towards the door he was yet again thrown into the air and slammed against a wall by an invisible force, this time coming from the person who stood there in front of him.

"You know! I'm getting real tired of that!" Longarm cried out agitated.

"Who are you and what are you?" the girl asked with a tone of authority as if she was somehow better than him.

"You first" Longarm asks with a defiant tone leveling the field of who's better than who.

"Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi Padawan . . . your turn."

"Name's Longarm, pleasure to meet you" he said sarcastically as he was pinned against the wall in mid-air.

"Alright that's half the answer, now tell me what you are?" she ordered.

But before he could answer that, someone began pounding on the door and a trooper's voice calling out "Hey what's going on in there!? What 's with the racket!?"

Ahsoka lost concentration as she mutters "Shoot, what are the clones doing in the building!?"

She quickly realizes that she lost concentration allowing the seven foot soldier to land on the ground and land a successful and debilitating blow to the gut forcing her to crumple over and groan in pain. As she lied there on the ground she could hear the clones breaking through the door, multiple footsteps suggesting there were about four of them hopefully armed with blasters.

"What the!? TAKE HIM!" a trooper cried out followed up by an intense moment of blaster fire.

She couldn't see anything as she laid on the ground but the blasting stopped and was quickly followed up with a brief and rather brutal brawl between the squad of clones and the one giant, she heard a brief cry for help from one of the troopers moments before Longarm hurled him towards the far end of the room. She finally got the strength back to stand up and see what happened. She turns around and found Longarm dealing with the last two clones with sheer ferocity and deadly precision, he quickly disarms one clone and slams his helmet into a wall, the other trooper fired a bolt and struck the backside of the giant. Much to everyone's surprise, an energy shield protected Longarm from the would-be fatal shot, Longarm turns and shoulder bashes the trooper sending him sailing towards the kitchen table and came crashing down with a loud crack of the table breaking underneath the clone's weight. She then watched Longarm pick up it a DC-15S blaster and make his way towards the door into the hallway just to be forced back by another squad of guards who open fired. He quickly made his way towards the window just as the second squad enters the room finding their incapacitated brothers, and just as two of the troopers raised their weapons and fired, Longarm had already leaped out of the window and fell to the bustling streets below.

"DID HE JUST JUMP!?" a trooper called out in shock as the others began tending to the injured.

Ahsoka wasn't willing to let him escape, she needed to uncover the mystery behind this man and the only way to do that was to go after him. She quickly gathered her lightsabers she dropped and sprinted for the window and leaped out in pursuit of the giant who was still in freefall.

Longarm was nose diving head first when he looked up and spotted Ahsoka falling in a similar fashion closing in on him, he readied his recently acquired blaster and took aim. He fired the first shot sending a blue bolt of energy zipping passed her, he then fired four more precision shots but his pursuer dodged and weaved evading them all. He glanced downward seeing the ground coming fast, he swung himself around and came crashing down into the ground feet first, the sidewalk underneath him cracked and warped as it took the impact, the surrounding crowds screamed and yelped in sudden fear not expecting a seven foot armed being crashing down from above. Longarm scans the crowd for oncoming troopers but saw none yet. He then glances upward and found Ahsoka now falling feet first in preparation to land, he chuckled at the fact that he never fought someone with this kind of determination before; he holstered his blaster and charged through the crowds knocking some over who failed to get out of the way in time.

After barging through the crowd, Longarm glances back and saw Tano in hot pursuit as she professionally moves through the crowd without bumping into someone, the SPARTAN couldn't help but grin in admiration. He faces forward again and found an alley to run through and hopefully escape; he darted for the entrance quickly and entered with the former Padawan just minutes behind him, 'This is too easy' he thought as he enters the darkness of the alley.

Ahsoka immediately stopped at the mouth of the alleyway, it was too dark to see clearly but she could make out several figures off to the left side next to a dumpster. She readies her sabers for the likely chances that Longarm could be one of the figures she sees, she slowly placed one foot in front of the other as she slowly crept towards a large figure on the right. She was now a good five meters from the figure, she was expecting to see the bulky outline of Longarm's armor but instead the figure was just some wookie smuggler, 'Something's not right here . . .' she thought to herself, she activates both sabers but it was too late as suddenly without warning a large bulky figure materialized out of thin air right behind her and swung a small blaster weapon slamming the barrel into the side of her head. She fell with a light thud dropping her sabers that clattered against the ground, she was lying on her side rubbing her head when she felt a gloved hand grab her by the shoulder and turn her over face up. She looked up to see Longarm kneeling down beside her with his left arm resting on his left kneecap, she stared into his black visor with shock and fear 'How could he have cloaked himself!? I thought that kind of technology was only available to warships!' she thought frantically trying to make sense of it.

Longarm chuckled as he comments "Not bad for someone like you, honestly you earned my respect. A little word of advice though, don't underestimate a SPARTAN-ll"

Ahsoka watched as he cocked his right arm back and suddenly launched it towards her head, and the moment it made contact with her face . . . it was nothing but black.

Several hours have passed since Ahsoka was knocked unconscious and she was now beginning to come to, she felt her arms and legs were chained up to something thus denying her the ability to move. Her eyes began to open up slowly and soon got a clear view of where she was. It appeared to be an abandoned manufacturing plant forgotten long ago; a large portion of a wall was knocked down revealing a somewhat pleasant view of a space port. She looked around a little more and found her lightsabers lying on a small metal crate and beside them are a DC-15S blaster with additional clips next to it and a plate with some half eaten food. She struggled to free herself from the chains that held her arms and legs together but it was hopeless, she was dealing with industrial materials and the only way of getting out was with her sabers. She calmed herself and concentrated on bringing one of her sabers to her and use it to cut herself free.

Moments before she could use the force, a deep male voice echoed through the air "I see that you're finally awake."

Ahsoka stopped what she was doing and looked around to find the source but she didn't see anyone around, that was until Longarm appeared out of cloak right in front of her giving the young former Jedi a bit of a surprise, and he came face to face with her showing no emotion behind his dark helmet.

Ahsoka asked as she carefully studies the SPARTAN "How long was I out?"

"Three hours and forty-two minutes. Was hoping you would have woke up sooner" he comments.

"Why is that?" she wondered

"So I can ask you some questions . . . are you hungry?" Longarm asked gesturing his hand towards the plate of food.

"I ate breakfast before you woke up, thanks" she said grudgingly.

The SPARTAN shrugged his shoulders and continued "That's fine."

He gently took hold of Ahsoka's chin with his right hand and turned her head left and right as if he was examining her, he then turned her head to the left and examined that side further for some reason.

"Let go of me!" she hissed as she began to jerk her head out of his hand.

"Don't struggle, I'm just checking that bruise I gave you earlier" he said as a way to calm her anxiety.

Ahsoka gradually stopped struggling; it was in fact surprising that someone who knocked her out was actually checking up on her in terms of health.

She decided to go along with it and asked "How does it look?"

"I could've done worse. Nothing is broken and the swelling should go down soon" he concluded as he lets go of her.

Ahsoka eventually was calm and comments "You have questions for me and I have questions for you, how do we work this out?"

"We can take turns, I can flip a coin and see who goes first . . . heads or tails?" he asked.

She watched him pull out a round piece of metal that she had never seen before, she then just guessed "Tails."

The SPARTAN flipped the coin into the air and caught it in mid-air as it came down, he glances at it at states "Tails . . . alright you go first."

"You called yourself a SPARTAN . . . what is that?" she asked

"Genetically engineered and augmented super-soldiers, one of the best soldiers ever to exist so far."

His turn "Why are you determined to catch me if you knew you were dealing with something you never faced before?"

"Ventress brought you to me in hopes of finding out what you are, I would have just said no but that changed the moment when I realized I couldn't sense the force within you."

Her turn "Where did you come from and how did you get here?"

"I don't even know where 'here' is" he states with a hint of uncertainty.

"Wait what?" she asked not believing what he just said.

She then started her own series of questions "You're on Coruscant in the middle of the galaxy, how could you not know where you are!?"

"How am I supposed to know!?" Longarm asked flailing his arms about.

She was now far too curious about him and asked "Then how did you even get here?"

"I came into this galaxy with a- . . . I'm not answering that" he said quickly as if he just said too much.

"Another galaxy!? You're an intergalactic being!?" Ahsoka asked in disbelief.

The SPARTAN grew agitated and briefly states "Let's just say I came here by accident and I've been stuck here for several years."

Tano asked "Where's your ship?"

"I don't trust you enough to tell you that, and using common sense it's not here on Coruscant otherwise it'll be all over the news" he states.

Ahsoka understood his fear of trusting someone from another galaxy and states "Fair enough . . . look if you release me I can help you get off-world. There's someone who wants to talk to you."

Longarm crossed his arms "And why should I go with you?"

She explains "Because you'll be better off with me than when the clones find you, and trust me they will."

The SPARTAN took several steps back and quietly thought for a moment, he knew she was right about the troopers eventually finding him and he didn't know what they do to their prisoners. He also thought that this might be a good chance to find a way back home to the UNSC and tell them about a whole new galaxy; then again they'll probably never believe him and just call him crazy.

He glanced at one of Ahsoka's lightsabers and picks it up asking "How do I turn this thing on?"

Ahsoka instructed "First off you're holding it the wrong way, second there's a stud on the hilt, press it and the blade should come out."

She watched the SPARTAN flip the hilt around and pressed on the stud releasing a bright green blade, he walks over to the chained up padawan and cuts the set of chains holding up her legs then cuts the chain holding her arms. As the chains fell to the ground clattering against the metal flooring, Ahsoka rubbed her wrists from the straining the chains had placed on them; Longarm deactivated the blade and generously hands the hilt to Ahsoka. The two walked over to the crate and retrieved their weapons, Ahsoka her other lightsaber, and Longarm his blaster and ammunition.

"So how do you plan on getting us off-world? I can't get through the streets without being called a droid by the guards and get shot at" Longarm comments.

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow and asked "You got shot at by the clones?"

"Several times. That's how I ended up in a alleyway yesterday before that witch Ventress came by . . . wherever she is now."

Ahsoka gestured with her hand for him to follow to the large hole in the wall and points out to something in the far distance "There's a space port not too far from here, if we can get there then we get off-world without a hitch."

Longarm shrugged "Sounds good to me, let's going."

The two holstered their weapons then walked out of the abandoned facility together making their way to the space port. As the two walked through a nearby residential district, Ahsoka couldn't stop staring at Longarm as he himself was simply looking around as people of many different species walked passed them. She couldn't get over the fact that she was dealing with a being from a different galaxy, it just felt so weird and new to her.

The two were walking quietly until Ahsoka eventually broke the silence between them "So what is it like? Your own galaxy?"

Longarm glanced down at her then back to bystanders saying "Honestly from what I can tell by being here. It's not much different from yours."

"Is your kind at war for peace and unity?"

"For survival" he said calmly.

Even though Ahsoka couldn't feel his presence as a being, she could definitely feel his anger and frustration slowly boiling up over the years of being trapped here. She could also sense his fears . . . fears of extinction by a threat she knew nothing of.

She asked "How long have you been here?"

"Sometime before the Clone Wars began . . . Over the years I've managed to get a basic understanding of both sides of the war" he explains showing that he had some hands on knowledge with the Separatists and the Republic.

Nearly an hour has passed the duo finally reached the space port and already gotten through the first set of security. They were now nearing the second and last set of security when one of Ahsoka's oldest friends happens to see them by chance.

"Ahsoka!" a woman's voice cheerfully called out.

Longarm turned around to see a young human woman in her late twenties or early thirties with brown hair and wearing some sort of formal attire approaching them.

"Senator Amidala what are you doing here?" Ahsoka asked

The senator replied "I was just on my way to a negotiation in a neutral system. . . I heard that you left the Order . . . I'm sorry it came to this."

Longarm noticed Ahsoka looked glim as she replied "I'm sorry you had to hear about it . . . Senator I would like you to meet my new friend, his name is Longarm."

Amidala turned to Longarm and bowed her head lightly saying "Hello Longarm, pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise ma'am . . . I've never met a senator before" the SPARTAN comments.

"Not many people have, I take it from your armor that you're not one for negotiations" she concludes.

"Not in the slightest ma'am, I prefer the term 'aggressive negotiations' but on occasion I can be pretty helpful with talks" Longarm comments.

"Is that so? Well in that case would you two care to join me on this mission with me?" the senator asked.

Ahsoka replies "I can't, I'm no longer a Jedi remember?"

Amidala grinned saying "But nobody knows that just yet, you two will be paid as my armed escorts."

Longarm was quick to ask "I thought this was a negotiation, why do you need armed escorts?"

"If you known me for some time then you would know that some people within the Separatists would love to have me dead, and unfortunately Captain Typho will be too busy tending to an issue aboard my ship. What do you say?"

Longarm shrugged "I'm in . . . I'm tired of barely living by and I would like to know a little more about the tensions between the Republic and the Separatists."

The two then looked at Ahsoka who eventually gave in saying "Fine . . . I guess I can do one more mission with you senator."

Amidala became overjoyed knowing that she got them to come along "Great! I'll be waiting for you at hangar fifteen."

As they watched the senator walk away Longarm comments "I tend to hate politicians but she seems pretty good."

Ahsoka quickly turned on him poking his chest plate warning "You just keep your distance . . . I may trust you when you're around me but so help me if you do anything to her!"

Longarm gently places his hand over her arm pushing it away and said "Don't worry, I don't intend on doing anything. Let's get going."

The two soon followed the senator on their way to the hangar bay, it was clear that Ahsoka was extremely concerned for Padmé's safety when someone like Longarm was close by and armed with a weapon. If she catches a hint of Longarm intending to harm the senator, she would have no choice but to kill him.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	3. Bodyguard

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 3**

"**Bodyguard"**

[Senator Amidala's shuttle, hyperspace, on route to Toydaria]

Ahsoka and Padme' were walking through one of the small corridors of the ship on their way to the neutral planet of Toydaria for the negotiations.

"Where did Longarm run off to?" the senator asked now becoming suspicious of him.

"He's still in his room tending to his weapon, he has a thing for being ready for anything" Ahsoka reassured her.

Amidala gave a light chuckle "I understand the feeling, especially with the circumstances these days."

The two friends walked through a door and into a luxurious dining room with Captain Typho and several security guards plus the senator's translation droid C-3PO who was now serving up the last trays of food.

C-3PO was overjoyed to see his master's padawan on board and greeted her "Greetings Padawan Tano, it is good to see you again."

"I can say the same for you too goldey" Ahsoka replied with a generous smile.

The senator and former padawan sat down at the table and prepared to eat but C-3PO stopped them asking "Um excuse me . . . but are we not waiting for Master Longarm?"

Captain Typho promptly offered "I'll go fetch him milady."

But Ahsoka was quick to protest "No no . . . I'll go get him, be back in a few seconds."

Ahsoka stood up and walked out of the dining room and down to the living quarters of the ship, she soon found the room labeled [21] and knocked on the door before entering.

"Come in!" a deep voice called out from within.

Ahsoka opened the door and came in at the right moment to catch a glimpse of the back of Longarm's head as he was putting his helmet on with a distinct hiss of air pressurizing in his suit. He had relatively pale skin and light brown hair shaved close to his skin, there was also an unusually large scar going down the back side of his neck and from the looks of it, it appeared to have been there for a very long time. Over on the table to her left was the blaster that the SPARTAN had stolen from one of the guards back on Coruscant, it was disassembled to an extent suggesting that Longarm was cleaning all of the internal components before putting it back together.

Ahsoka turned back to Longarm and comments "The senator is waiting for us in the dining room."

"Alright let's go" the SPARTAN said as he turned around facing Ahsoka with his emotionless dark helmet.

The two then made their way back to the dining room where Longarm was greeted by the others.

C-3PO started "Hello Master Longarm, I am C-3PO human-cyborg relations."

"Nice to meet you C-3PO" Longarm said.

Ahsoka and Longarm sat on opposing ends of the table with the senator sitting at the end between them. The two ladies began eating as Longarm sat there for a moment in deep thought, for the past few years of being in this galaxy he couldn't stop looking at the upper left corner of his HUD which held the time saying [4/15/52 . . . . 14:52:46]. For those past years it had not changed sense, either due to a malfunction in the helmet's circuitry or coming here caused some sort of anomaly and affected him. That date was the last time he was back home fighting the Covenant, all he could remember was being inside of a Thanatos-class Destroyer engaging a Covenant battlecruiser in orbit above a world he could not remember.

Senator Amidala noticed his behavior and asked "Is something wrong Longarm?"

The SPARTAN snapped out of his deep thought and started looking around as if not knowing where he was. 'Oh . . . right, I'm with Ahsoka and the Senator . . .' he thought depressingly.

He responded "It's uh . . . it's nothing Senator, don't worry about me."

"Maybe getting something to eat might help you out" Ahsoka suggested.

The SPARTAN looked at the large variety of food displayed before him, mostly food he never seen before but didn't care what they tasted like. He gave a subtle nod and reached for his helmet, he gave a moment for the pressurized air to depressurize giving a sudden hiss of air before taking it off. Everyone glared at Longarm's face for the first time as he sets the helmet on a chair beside him, everyone saw how relatively pale his skin was, his unusually bright blue eyes brighter than Ahsoka's, his brown shaved haircut, his firm facial structure, and a small scar across his right cheek.

Amidala resumed eating as she asked "So Longarm, what do you do for a living?"

Ahsoka glanced at Longarm as he answers "I'm a soldier . . . things were going well until a few years ago."

"What happened?" Tano asked curiously.

"I'd rather not talk about it . . . it's still too soon" the SPARTAN said hopefully leading them to believe that it was a traumatic event for him.

The senator spoke in a way to comfort him "It's alright we understand, this war has gone far too long and too many lives have been lost or ruined."

"It's not the Clone Wars I was fighting ma'am."

Everyone looked at him with wonder as Amidala asked "What war were you fighting then?"

"I can't say ma'am, only thing you need to know is that it has lasted nearly twenty-five years and still going."

Ahsoka comments "Twenty-five years? Talk about combat experience, our troops were born to fight and yet they only have nearly three years of experience under their belts."

Longarm nodded in agreement as the Senator states with pride "Well as much as I'm sorry for your kind's involvement in such a long war, I am grateful to have you at my side for this mission."

The SPARTAN grinned saying firmly "I'll have your back at all times Senator, you won't be disappointed."

Ahsoka turned to Padme' and asked "Speaking of the mission, what are we doing?"

Amidala explained the mission "We're heading to Toydaria for the coronation of their new king, Tachuko. He's a brother of the previous king Katuunko rest his soul."

Longarm asked attentively "What happened to Katuunko?"

"He was killed by Dooku's assassin, Savage Opress in a kidnapping gone wrong" Ahsoka explained.

Longarm then expressed his concern "So we're just going to be attending a coronation of a king? Forgive me Senator but I don't see the point on why you need armed guards then."

Amidala replied "It's not just because of the coronation, Tachuko is a strong supporter of the Republic, and I'm going there so I can see if he'll allow Toydaria to join the Republic."

"Aren't the Toydarians pretty big on neutrality from the war?" Ahsoka asked.

"Normally yes, but Tachuko said he convinced some of the council to join the Republic if we can ensure their safety from the Separatists" Amidala explains.

Longarm then concluded "And you think this Dooku character is going to try and stop it."

Amidala turned to the curious SPARTAN and answered "I know he's going to try something, so I can only ask of you two to protect me and King Tachuko during the negotiations."

Longarm comments "Dooku sounds pretty serious in his line of work."

Ahsoka adds "You have no idea what he can do, he's manipulative mastermind."

A voice came over the ship's intercom "Senator Amidala, we are now exiting out of hyperspace and on approach to the Toydarian Palace."

Amidala thanks the voice "Thank you pilot, we'll be ready as soon as we land."

"Of course milady, beginning atmospheric entry procedures."

Longarm stands up putting his helmet on saying "I'll go get prepared now Senator."

Amidala gratefully said "Thank you Longarm, what you're doing will be a great help to the Republic."

The SPARTAN nods lightly in acknowledgment and leaves the dining room back to his quarters.

Padme' and Ahsoka resumed eating for the last few minutes before getting ready for the mission, for several moments they were quiet until the Senator broke the silence.

She asked "So what do you think of Longarm?"

Ahsoka swallowed her last bite of food then glanced at the senator with a raised eyebrow "What do you mean?"

"I mean is he someone you would be willing to stay with for a long time?" Amidala asked trying to get the former padawan to understand her meaning.

"What are you getting at Padme'?"

"Well . . . I mean since you're no longer a part of the Order. Maybe I figured the laws and codes of the Jedi no longer apply to you. Maybe you could actually find someone out there to be with." Amidala explained carefully.

"Are you asking if I'm in love with Longarm? Then no I'm not" Tano said rejecting the idea Padme' had.

Amidala comments "I know you're not in love with him, it's not instantly. I'm just saying that over time you two may grow on each other and who knows then."

Ahsoka already became uncomfortable with the conversation as she stood up from the table saying "If you'll excuse me I have to get ready as well" and left.

Longarm sat down at his small desk and resumed working on his DC-15S blaster, the handle and trigger guard were reassembled. He decided to reassemble the barrel of the weapon since he had already cleaned the integral components before heading up to the dining room with Ahsoka and the senator. The barrel consisted of an inner barrel lined with some unusual components presumably to help launch the bolt at high speed and a larger outer shell for the operator to hold onto in combat. The SPARTAN inserts the smaller barrel into the larger and soon attached the small rail guard that slides in underneath the barrel. With the barrel now reassembled he had to now work on the main housing of the blaster's firing mechanism, unfortunately as Longarm dissembled the weapon he realized that the weapon ran along with the same principles of plasma weaponry as well as Covenant plasma weaponry. He only had several integral and external pieces to put together but he couldn't remember which part went with which, he decided to try and assemble two familiar components together when Ahsoka knocked and came into the room.

"How's it going?" she asks.

"Good so far . . ." Longarm said as he focused on reassembling his weapon but proving to be a challenge.

Ahsoka glanced over the SPARTAN's shoulder and asked "Having trouble with your blaster?"

Longarm comments "No . . . It's just different from any other weapon I used before."

Ahsoka came beside him and looked down at the disassembled blaster stating "You got the plasma regulator attached to the wrong end of the kinetic motivator."

Longarm glanced up at Ahsoka then turned back to the two components and reconfigured them, he then grabbed what appeared to be a battery package and several wires that came with the weapon and attached the battery with the other two components and laid them inside the housing where they are supposed to be place. Not hearing any comment from Ahsoka tells Longarm that so far he's got it right, he takes the external housing compartment and slides it into position, he then attaches the handle and trigger guard and twisted the barrel into their respectful places. Ahsoka picks up a fully charged magazine and hands it to the SPARTAN who then took it and inserts it into the magazine port on the right side of the weapon's main housing. He then presses a small button on the other side of the weapon and the blaster came to life with a small hum indicating it was ready for use.

"Thanks . . ." Longarm said calmly as he presses the button again turning the weapon off.

Ahsoka sat down on his bed saying "Don't mention it, what kind of weapons did you work with before?"

The SPARTAN sets the blaster on the desk and turns towards Ahsoka and said "Projectile based weapons."

"Sounds a bit primitive if you ask me" she comments.

Longarm adds with confidence "Primitive but effective."

The two felt the ship rock as they entered Toydaria's atmosphere, which was their cue to head to the ship's landing ramp meeting up with the Senator. Longarm holstered his weapon and grabbed the additional magazines placing them in several ammunition pouches along his chest plate and followed Ahsoka out the door.

As they walked side by side down to meet up with the Senator, Ahsoka states "Padme' thinks you and I could be an 'item' someday."

Longarm glanced down at Ahsoka and thought how ridiculous that comment was, he scoffs and asks "What gave her that idea?"

"I don't know, she figured that since I'm no longer a Jedi that means that the codes of the Order no longer applies to me."

"And what do these codes say?"

Ahsoka spoke as if she was rehearsing a statement "That a Jedi must not form a relationship with another being in order to maintain balance in the Force."

"Right . . . even though you're no longer a Jedi, do you still follow the code?"

"To an extent now . . . I now have a little more freedom to do things. Look you're a nice guy as far as I know, but if I were to find someone then giant men in battle armor from a different galaxy is not exactly my type" Tano said as a way of making a joke to lighten the mood.

Longarm chuckled "Yeah? Well sword wielding orange people with white and blue . . . whatever those are aren't exactly my type either and I can relate to what you said about the code."

"You're not allowed to form a relationship by a code?"

"Not exactly . . . SPARTANs are soldiers dedicated to the fight, in order for us to be at the top of our game we had to have several augmentations added to our bodies."

"So these augmentations had some effect on your minds thus making you virtually emotionless to love and passion" she concluded her theory.

Longarm calmly states "It's not impossible . . . just extremely difficult."

"How difficult?" she asked.

"Like one person against an entire army."

The two met up with the Senator just in time for the ramp to lower itself revealing a floating landing pad high above a forest. The ship landed without a hitch allowing Senator Amidala to walk down the ramp with Ahsoka following second and Longarm third. Longarm noticed a several small grey skinned beings covered in blue and gold armor wielding a golden blaster rifle in their hands, they floated several feet off of the ground due to the wings they have on their backs, Longarm also noticed that some have tusks coming from their lower jaws and a small elephant trunk-like nose. 'These must be Toydarians' Longarm thought.

A Toydarian guard flies calmly towards the senator and greets them in a gruff voice "Welcome to Toydaria Senator Amidala, your transport awaits to take you to the Toydarian Palace. You may take your guards with you but they must keep their weapons holstered."

Amidala smiles thanking them for their hospitality "Thank you guardsmen."

The senator and her accompanying escorts made their way towards a small speeder sitting on the edge of the platform, Amidala sat in the back with Ahsoka while Longarm took up the passenger seat next to the driver. The pilot keyed the ignition systems and piloted the speeder to the Toydarian palace that rested on top of a mountain above the massive forest below. It took several minutes for the speeder to reach the palace and land on a landing platform, the SPARTAN was the first to climb out and offered his hand to Padme' who took it and climbed out of the speeder with his assistance. Ahsoka looked around seeing many different prestigious figures of many different species but she also noticed a fairly large amount of Neimoidians from the Trade Federation entering through the palace doors.

Longarm noticed her concern and whispered "What's with the greenskins?"

She answered as she turned to Padme's side "Those are Neimoidians from the Trade Federation, they're widely associated with the Separatists but they decline the accusations."

Senator Amidala adds to her two escorts "Separatists or not, they're welcomed here like anyone else by the Toydarians. Though I would be careful around them, let's get going."

The group walked calmly along with everyone else who were attending the coronation, Longarm noticed that some people started talking about him and often referring to him as a droid but there were others who did not mind. Longarm then noticed a bluish-green skinned figure in formal clothing similar to Amidala's come close to the Senator, he was about to quickly intervene when Ahsoka raised her arm in front of him stopping him from doing something stupid.

Amidala looked to her left and became surprised with who she saw "Good to see you Senator Nari."

The pleased Rodian senator replies "Good to see you as well Senator Amidala."

The two began talking about politics and negotiations as Longarm and Ahsoka continued walking behind them, the SPARTAN was glad that Tano stopped him otherwise he would have accidently assaulted a senator for getting too close. They came down to a hallway where two Toydarian guards instructed the guests to take the doorway on their left to the coronation ceremony, as Longarm came by he noticed the guards glaring at him with suspicion but eventually looked away as there was other guests to watch over. Several minutes later and they came into a large open room without a roof and a central platform ordained in gold, from what Ahsoka had mentioned to him before entering the room was that this room had a similar layout to the Senate meeting area back on Coruscant. Padme' sat beside Senator Nari with Ahsoka sitting next to Amidala and Longarm sitting next to the Rodian senator, Longarm looked around the well-decorated ceremony room seeing if there was any potential locations for an attack but he couldn't see any. 'The enemy has to be either pretty brave or just plain stupid to attack an open room like this' Longarm thought.

A voice from his left spoke "I am Senator Nari of Rodia, pleased to meet you."

Longarm turned facing the senator, he hesitated for a moment then introduced himself "Longarm . . . pleasure to meet you Senator."

The entire crowd became quiet as a small parade of Toydarian guards floated down through the open ceiling followed up by a golden chariot holding a Toydarian wearing a special oriented ceremonial outfit specially made for the coronation. The chariot came to a soft landing letting the Toydarian to flutter off of it and came to a landing on the central platform in the middle of the room, he kneeled down onto one of his knees before another Toydarian who wore a red and gold tunic and a large headdress. Phrases were said between the two as they swore an oath to protect Toydaria and its people, eventually the Toydarian with the large headdress brought a sword to bare and lightly tapped the kneeling Toydarian on his shoulders. He then sheathed the sword into a ceremonial cover and gracefully handed it down to the kneeling Toydarian who then took it upon his two hands.

The Toydarian with the headdress then calls out in pride "May I present King Tachuko of Toydaria!"

The crowd stood up and applauded in unison for the newly appointed king of Toydaria

Several hours passed afterwards and the vast majority of the guests had left except for Amidala, Ahsoka, and Longarm. They were now standing in the throne room, Amidala stood on an elevated platform in front of King Tachuko while Ahsoka and Longarm remained on the floor listening to the conversation that had gone on for nearly forty-two minutes.

Tachuko states "That means we will have to break our contract with the Trade Federation and they're our top provider of supplies ."

Amidala adds "Yes but there are several key Republic systems close by who can provide the resources you need for your people."

Tachuko asks "And what of a Separatists attack? I am well aware that my forces cannot stand against the droid armies alone."

"You're right, but I am confident that the Republic can spare a fleet to protect you and your people, of course they would also need a location to set up a ground base" Amidala mentions.

Tachuko states "I am sure I can find an ideal location for your troops, of course that means a direct violation of—"

A Toydarian guard frantically flies passed Longarm and Ahsoka, he came before the king and reports "Sire! A Separatists fleet has exited out of hyperspace! They are deploying troop transports on route to the palace!"

Tachuko jumped from his throne "Separatists! Now!? We need the Republic to aid us!"

Senator Amidala attempted to contact Skywalker but claims "I can't get word out, they're jamming us!"

Ahsoka quickly ordered "Senator we have to get you and the king to safety!"

But Tachuko protested "I will not flee from my first battle! I swore an oath!"

Ahsoka ignored his argument for the moment and glanced at Longarm who nodded in acknowledgment saying "I'll find a vantage point over the platforms to fight from, you get them to safety. I'll try and stop as many of them as possible."

Ahsoka nodded and said "Stay safe Longarm."

Longarm drawn his blaster and activated it while saying "What you got feelings for me now?"

"No I still have questions I want to ask you" she said with a smirk.

Longarm chuckled and ran off to a flight of stairs as Ahsoka and several Toydarian guards escort Padme' and the resistant Tachuko to safety. The SPARTAN sprinted through a third floor corridor, it was rather dark but it didn't matter as he made a last minute check on his blaster, the magazine was in, the blaster itself was charged and ready to go. Suddenly a blast occurred in front of Longarm throwing him back a few feet, light flooded into the dark corridor. Longarm stood up retrieving his weapon and made his way to the large hole in the wall, fortunately he had a perfect view of the landing platforms with several Toydarian guards massing up to repel the attack. The SPARTAN then looked up into the sky to see four large four-winged transports slowly making their descent from orbit in preparation for a ground assault, and in the far distance floating high above the ground was a Separatists _Munificent-class Star Frigate_ slowly making its way towards the palace. The first transport landed and opened the front troop bay, Longarm readies his blaster and takes aim, this would be his first major engagement against the Separatists and his introductory into the Clone Wars, before taking his first shot Longarm thought to himself 'Time to show them what a SPARTAN can do'.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	4. Baptism of droids

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 4**

"**Baptism of droids"**

[Toydarian Palace, Toydaria]

It didn't even take minutes for the once peaceful landing pads of the palace to become a bloodbath between the Toydarian Guards and the relentless armies of battle droids, at this point Longarm had taken out a fair amount of droids from his vantage point above the platforms. A third squadron of _B2 Battle Droids_ was now marching down the ramp and off the transport that carried them here, Longarm quickly shifts his aim and continued firing in a semi-automatic fashion from his DC-15S blaster. One after another guards and droids fell to the ground after being struck by a bolt fired from each other, but this did not tempt the SPARTAN to fall back as he continued firing with deadly precision with a ratio of two out of eight shots missing their targets. After the next few moments of firing and the landing transports began deploying a much larger grey bulkier version of droids armed with dual wrist cannons, they marched with a heavy footstep and they as a force began to push the guards back. It took nearly three shots from Longarm's now insignificant blaster to bring down even one of the those walking tanks, after taking down at least seven of them the rest of the super battle droids traced the shots back to the SPARTAN's position and unleashed a barrage of red laser fire from their wrist mounted cannons. Longarm scrambled for cover behind a portion of the wall and continued firing whenever he wasn't taking fire, minutes later into the firefight and he notices a Toydarian Guard approaching him. He glanced at the guard for a moment before appearing out of cover shooting down several more advancing droids and return to cover to hear what the guard had to report.

"Report Guardsmen" Longarm asks as he takes a glance around the corner seeing more droids march off the ramps.

The Toydarian reports "The remaining guards are pulling back to make a stand in the throne room, Security Chief Kahlo requests your assistance to hold the line there."

"And the Senator and King Tachuko?"

"The Jedi has sent me to deliver this communicator to you."

The guard handed the communicator to Longarm and he turns it on asking "What's your situation?"

Ahsoka's voice came through with minor static "Longarm? We're hold up in a safe room below the palace, what about you?"

"The Separatists are making a push, the guards are gathering in the throne room to make a stand, I'm heading there now."

"Alright, we got word from Captain Typho, they're aware of what's going on but they can't do anything without endangering the shuttle and crew."

"Understood, don't worry we'll keep them at bay as long as possible."

"Stay safe . . ."

"Oh so you _do_ care about me" Longarm said with a smirk behind his helmet.

"No . . . I care about the questions I want to ask you" Ahsoka replied with an obvious sign of sass.

"Ah-huh . . ." the SPARTAN replied as if not believing her words just to get her agitated.

The former padawan sighed thinking this was ridiculous "Just go already, the droids on going to be on top of those guards at any minute."

"Heading out now" Longarm finishes as he switches the communicator off and begins following the guard to the throne room.

Ahsoka switches her communicator off as she began to hear King Tachuko begin arguing with Senator Amidala.

"The last thing I want to have is everyone knowing that the first thing I did as king was fleeing from a Separatists attack merely hours after being crowned!"

Senator Amidala maintained her calm tone as she speaks with the enraged King "I understand your majesty, but Toydaria needs a King that can rule and protect it. They can't afford to lose another one."

King Tachuko calmed down by a margin as he turned to Ahsoka and asked "Jedi, what is the status of your friend and the guards?"

Ahsoka replied "The guards are making a stand in the throne room and Longarm is making his way there to help them, they'll hold the line don't worry."

Padme' added "Now if we can only find a way to—"

Her voice was interrupted as an accompanying Toydarian Guard by the blast door shushed her and whispered "Listen . . . they are close . . ."

Ahsoka came next to the door and placed her ear next to it and listened carefully. At first there was nothing but then the light footsteps was heard and grew louder as they got closer, the footsteps had the distinct _'clank' _which told the former padawan that battle droids had made it into the lower catacombs in search of whatever it is they came for. Judging from the amount of steps she heard, Ahsoka could only assume it was a full squad of droids numbering around half a dozen of them.

A droid officer called out to the others "The signal ended somewhere around here . . . spread out and find Tachuko."

A chorus of droids replied "Roger roger."

Ahsoka returns her attention back to the senator as she now whispered "We need a way to get a call out to the Republic but we can't do it with the Separatists jamming our outside communications. Anyone got ideas?"

Everyone glanced at each other for a few moments until Tachuko mentions "Well . . . if I remember correctly, there's an old communications center several levels above us. It's based on ancient technology but it still should be able to work."

"But the Separatists are jamming the communications from one of their ships . . . how are we going to get word out?" Ahsoka asks.

The Toydarian guard by the door states "The Separatists have modernized jamming equipment on their vessels, meaning they can jam live video feeds, holographic projections, and voice communications. The communications center the King speaks of relies on the only other means of communication that is now rarely ever used, messaging."

Amidala became impressed with the guard's knowledge of communications and jamming and asked "How do you know all this?"

The guard shrugged his shoulders "I attended one of the academies on Coruscant and majored in communication and logistics . . . before I became a guard quartermaster of course."

Ahsoka then created a strategy "Alright here's what we're going to do, the senator, quartermaster, and I are going to make our way to the communications center and send word out for help. Tachuko I would really appreciate it if you remain here with the rest of your security detail."

But the king protested as predicated "I refuse to simply lie down and hide like a whipped animal! I will come with you and aid you on your mission."

Ahsoka didn't bother to argue with the stubborn king and said "Alright fine you can come with us, just stay behind us and try not to get shot."

Ahsoka and the guards stacked up around the door as they prepared themselves to take on any battle droids still lingering about, Ahsoka nodded to the quartermaster who stood next to the door panels as the signal to open the blast door. The quartermaster acknowledged and activated the switch thus opening the door, Ahsoka was the first to sneak out into the barely lit catacombs of the palace, no droids were found so the former padawan signaled to the others with her hand that it is safe to come out and so the guards plus Padme' and Tachuko came out.

Ahsoka came next to the quartermaster and whispered "Which way to the communications center?"

The quartermaster simply pointed in a direction and the entire group followed his lead without hesitation.

Nearly half an hour later and the group was now coming up on to the level where the communications center was held on, several guards remained behind to hold off several squads of battle droids the group accidently stumbled upon. They were in such a rush now after fending off a small group of super battle droids, wasn't till long that they ran into another squad of droids. Ahsoka readied her lightsabers and quickly and effortlessly cut the droids down one after another in a descent display of the Jedi arts.

The group resumed heading towards the center as Ahsoka turns on her communicator and asks "Longarm how's things on your end?"

Longarm's voice came through with a mixture of heavy blaster fire in the background "We're still holding them back but they're wearing us down. I'm down to three magazines . . . make that two."

"Alright just hang in there for a little longer; we're going to send word out."

Longarm's voice yelled out as he began firing back at the droids "Roger that! C'mon men keep up the left flank!"

Ahsoka repeated herself "Just a little longer alright!?"

"Yeah I hear you! We'll keep them off until . . ." the SPARTAN's voice trailed off as if something happened.

Ahsoka became worried as she asked "Longarm what's wrong? . . . Longarm!?"

Longarm didn't reply but instead she heard an awfully familiar deep mechanical voice followed by a distinct sinister laugh "So you're the group of insignificant pests that has been thwarting my advance . . . I'm impressed hehahaha."

Ahsoka stopped dead in her tracks and cried out "LONGARM GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"

The SPARTAN and most of the remaining few guards ceased fire shortly after the droids stopped firing for some reason. Instead of pressing the advance, the droids stopped firing and formed two lines on each side of this seven foot tall black and white droid with organic eyes and a well intimidating mask. The droid stood there with his hands folded behind his back as he observed what remains of the defending force, his eyes slowly scanned across each of the Toydarian guards' faces until they came to rest on this tall black figure that stood several meters in front of him. At first he took the figure as a spec-ops clone trooper but something didn't set right with him, he noticed that it was far too tall to be a clone and that it had very unusual markings along its body.

"I can tell from simply looking at you that you are something that can only hope to be a threat against me" the droid calmly boasted.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, you don't look so tough yourself droid" the SPARTAN replied as an insult.

The droid growled furiously as it took the insult to heart and defiantly claims "I am Grievous, warlord of the Kaleesh and Supreme Commander of the armies of the Confederacy. And I am not a droid!"

The SPARTAN decided to introduce himself as well "The name's Longarm, SPARTAN-ll super soldier and Chief Warrant Officer of the United Nations Space Command."

Grievous never heard of a SPARTAN or about a UNSC but he tossed those thoughts aside as he comments "I don't care what you are 'spartan' but you will not get in my way from my goal."

Longarm slowly brought his weapon to bear when he asked "And what is that might I ask?"

"To do what that mindless brute, Savage Opress, had failed to do. Bringing the Toydarian king back to Count Dooku alive" Grievous states.

Longarm and several guards took aim at Grievous and his droids as Longarm states "Well if you want to do that than by all means . . . try and get through us."

The droid general gave a sinister chuckle "I was hoping you would say that ehahaha. Prepare to die scum."

Longarm quickly orders moments before another firefight ensues "Guards stay on the droids! I'll handle Grievous!"

Blaster fire from both sides erupted into an intense exchange, Longarm fired several bolts at Grievous but the general used his augmented reflexes and brought out two lightsabers deflecting the incoming shots. The SPARTAN maintained his aim on Grievous and began sprinting and shooting at once, Grievous held his ground and continued blocking the shots until his adversary came into killing distance with his lightsabers. The droid general swung both blades high as a way to decapitate his foe but the SPARTAN ducked and rolled to the left, having recovered his aim Longarm fires three bolts but Grievous was far too quick in reflexes and blocked the shots with ease 'Gotta do this up close and personal . . . great' the SPARTAN thought. Longarm holsters his blaster and charges towards the general who then raised his blades up high to strike him down, but the SPARTAN was far too quick and slammed himself into the general's chest bringing the two giants down to the floor.

Grievous looked up to see the black soldier sitting on top of him but quickly received a punch from the SPARTAN's right fist stunning him for a few moments. Within that time frame Longarm drew his blaster and fired multiple bolts in rapid succession into Grievous's right hand nearly destroying it but the general managed to save it by grabbing the soldier's face with his left hand and swung him down into the floor beside him. Now it was Grievous's turn as he sat on top of Longarm and began repeatedly throwing punches at the SPARTAN's head that was moving left and right evading the mechanical fists as they made crackling holes in the floor showing the general's augmented strength. Longarm knew he had to get out of this and quickly grabbed the two 'ears' on Grievous's head and threw him off with his augmented strength. The two quickly got up to their feet and Longarm charged forcing himself into close combat with the general who quickly followed suit, the two cybernetic giants clashed once more each throwing punches and dodging hits. One of the Toydarian guards eventually stopped firing and became mesmerized by the speed and precision the two were using against each other as they used their augmented abilities to the fullest, the SPARTAN was using every known martial arts in the UNSC while Grievous used the lessons he learned from Count Dooku and added his experiences to the fight. The SPARTAN throws a right sidekick but the general raised his left knee guard blocking it while he in returns throws a right fist but Longarm caught it between his arms, twisted the general's arm sideways while pulling himself next to the angered droid, and lifted the shoulder joint upwards thus dislocating Grievous's arm showing a small display of sparks flying out. The general showed no sign of pain but instead gave an annoyed growl and attempted to break free out of the SPARTAN's grip, he grabbed Longarm by the shoulder with his left hand, threw him out in front of him, and kicked him in the lower abdomen with his right clawed droid foot sending the SPARTAN flying several feet back. Grievous then took the few moments he had before Longarm would attack and popped his shoulder joint back into position though now he had only partial control of his right arm due to the fact that the SPARTAN may have broken several circuits and locomotors in his arm socket. The general was enraged as he picked up his two original lightsabers and started walking towards Longarm who was now getting back up.

Longarm was back at his feet and saw Grievous approaching him with eyes full of rage and hatred, at first the SPARTAN was confident that he could engage the general once more and began a charge. Longarm slammed himself into Grievous's chest knocking him back and disarming him of his lightsabers, the two entered a quick and brutal brawl once more until the general's arms separated and gained an immediate advantage of the skilled SPARTAN. Longarm managed to block several moves from the now fully prepared general but it didn't last long until Grievous grabbed Longarm by the shoulders with his original arms, and then use his new set of arms to draw two more lightsabers from his belt. Longarm attempted to break free and eventually grabbed the general's right arm and bent the elbow joint forward thus damaging his arm and setting the SPARTAN free. The general roared with rage and slammed his left arm into the SPARTAN's head knocking him down onto the floor, Longarm attempted to get up but Grievous forced him back down as he slammed his left foot onto the SPARTAN's chest thus immobilizing him. Longarm got a hold of Grievous's leg and used his augmented strength to push it off but the general reassured his weight and strength onto the struggling SPARTAN.

Grievous chuckled sinisterly "No doubt I have underestimated you, but your time is up! Time to die 'Spartan' ehahahaha!"

Grievous raised his secondary arms wielding the lightsabers and brought them down with sheer velocity just in time for Longarm to close his eyes and wait for the inevitable, but suddenly a loud clashing of energy rang out and he didn't feel anything for some reason . . .

Ahsoka Tano stood over the SPARTAN's body with her two lightsabers clashing against the general's who was somewhat surprised to see her here.

"Did you miss me?" Ahsoka said to Grievous with a smirk.

Grievous simply responded with a slow and vengeful "Jedi . . ."

Longarm opened his eyes finding the young Togruta standing above him and asks calmly "Where have you been?

"Oh nowhere . . . I was out sightseeing" Ahsoka replies while maintaining her focus on Grievous.

"Fair enough I guess. . ." the SPARTAN remarks towards her sense of humor.

Ahsoka was beginning to lose her ground against the physically superior droid general but the SPARTAN placed his left boot against the general's pelvic joints and exerted all his strength into a kick and threw the general off and freeing Tano from the would-be failed saber lock. Ahsoka steps off allowing Longarm to get back up and prepare to fight once more.

"Guards!" the general calls out knowing he couldn't face the two in his damaged state.

Coming through the doorway far behind the general were four tall grey droids with a red 'heart', red eyes, dirty cloaks, and an electro-staff with the tips surging with purple electricity. They came to their general's side and prepared their staffs for combat, Ahsoka nodded to Longarm who the nodded in return and attacked one of the guards while she attacked another. It took little effort for Tano to kill two of the guards since she had experience dealing with them before but Longarm had difficulties dealing with them until he disarmed one of the droids and used the staff as a spear impaling the second droid through the heart moments after beheading the first.

Grievous watched the two as Tano slowly etched her way to his right and Longarm retrieving a staff and slowly came to his left, he was now fighting a lost battle but he couldn't go away simply empty-handed, at least not yet. The two charged from the sides towards Grievous who then leaped out of the way hoping Tano and Longarm would slam themselves into each other by accident but that hope died when Longarm performed a power-slide underneath Tano who jumped over him in time to avoid a collision, the two then assumed offensive positions and rushed the general. Ahsoka was the first to make contact with Grievous while Longarm picked up his dropped blaster and open fired forcing Grievous to hold off Tano with on saber and block the incoming bolts with his other. Longarm quickly holsters his blaster and attacked with his staff and gradually the two forced Grievous out of the door and onto the landing platforms of the palace in a well calculated duel. The Toydarian guards have managed to push the droids back to the platforms during the duel where they were now picking off the last few droid stragglers.

Grievous was losing quickly and knew he had failed his mission, Ahsoka came in from the left and Longarm from the right and the two kept up their relentless assault. The general has had it and broke away making a run for the separatists shuttle that brought him here, Longarm puts the staff down bringing up his blaster and open fired hoping to hit Grievous but the general was quick to evade the incoming bolts and board his shuttle. Longarm continued firing striking the hull of the shuttle multiple times as it gradually lifts off the ground and takes off for orbit.

"Dammit!" Longarm yells as the general got away.

"Hey we won . . . take a look" Ahsoka said as she looks out into the distance.

Longarm followed her glare and found the separatist frigate that hung in the air at the start of the attack now crashed into the ground with several portions of the hull on fire, and up in the sky to take its place was the much larger triangular cruiser with a red strip going along the bottom of the hull and two towering structures on top acting as the bridge of the cruiser. Eventually white gunships with wings angled downward came into sight and moments later they landed on the platforms opening their side doors letting out squads of men adorned in white armor with orange strips similar to the guards back on Coruscant.

A trooper with a visor cover and a small antenna on his right shoulder armed with the long DC-15A blaster rifle approached the two and asked "Ahsoka!? What are you doing here?"

Ahsoka replied "Oh just sightseeing Cody, where's Obi-Wan?"

Commander Cody simply points to something behind them, Longarm turned around with Tano to see a man with a mix of brown and orange hair and beard wearing fragments of clone armor mixed with the traditional Jedi robes.

Obi-Wan came to a stop in front of Ahsoka and Longarm and asked "Ahsoka? Mind telling me what you're doing here?"

Suddenly Senator Amidala and King Tachuko appeared from behind Longarm with Amidala stating "These two were helping me with the negotiations with King Tachuko, they helped the guards repel the droid attack."

Obi-Wan ran his fingers through his beard saying "Is that so? Senator you know that Ahsoka no longer has the status of a Jedi and this was a violation of law."

Longarm stepped forward towards Kenobi and said "Sir with respect, if it weren't for her you wouldn't have known about the attack."

Master Kenobi agreed "I suppose that is true . . . what is your name?"

"Longarm"

Ahsoka states "We met back on Coruscant several days after I left master. How's Anakin doing?"

"He's getting by day by day but I do believe that a moment hasn't gone by where he had forgotten about you" Obi-Wan said with calm.

Commander Cody comments "There's a lot of dead droids around and I don't think the guards could have done it all, no saber cuts either . . ."

Longarm replies "I might have had something to do with that . . . you should take a look inside the palace, it's no better than out here."

Kenobi asks "Mister Longarm, I take it you're a mercenary of some sort judging by how many droids you destroyed, would you care to work for the Republic? You will be rewarded handsomely."

Longarm glances at Ahsoka for a moment then said "Thank you for the offer but I'll have to decline the offer, I have my own priorities to tend to."

Obi-Wan then states "Very well, you may take the offer whenever you see fit. That goes for you as well Ahsoka, when you are ready to come back to the Order, we'll be waiting for your return."

Ahsoka bowed her head lightly "Thank you Kenobi but you may have to wait for some time."

Obi-Wan and Commander Cody began walking away to attend investigating the battle sight as King Tachuko says to Ahsoka and Longarm "I thank you for your efforts to protect the palace, we would have stood no chance against them."

Senator Amidala asks "So will you join the Republic then?"

"I will gratefully have Toydaria and its people join the Republic" the King replies with a smile.

Nearly twenty-three minutes passed since the Republic arrived, Longarm stood on the platforms next to Amidala's shuttle as he watched the clones patrol and salvage the dead droids. Ahsoka came up to Longarm with the electro-staff he had used against Grievous and hands it to the SPARTAN.

"Fits you nicely" Ahsoka said as Longarm takes the staff.

"Thanks . . ." Longarm replies as he examines the staff.

Ahsoka pats Longarm on the shoulder saying "I got Kenobi to give us a ship to go wherever we need to go, come on."

Ahsoka began walking towards an empty platform where moments afterwards a _Gozanti-class cruiser _measured at sixty-four meters long and lightly armed with only a pair of laser cannons meant for taking out fighters but did not possess the firepower to crack the shields of a warship. Longarm eventually followed Ahsoka to the cruiser and began walking up the ramp, Ahsoka kept walking towards the cockpit of the ship while the SPARTAN stayed by the ramp looking out at the clones walking by. The clone pilots who brought the cruiser walked past Longarm and made their way down the ramp and onto the platform, the SPARTAN heard the cruiser's engines start up suggesting that Ahsoka was now piloting the ship and watched the troops as the cruiser began lifting off the ground. He lastly saw Kenobi looking up at him with a confused look almost as if he was concerned about something.

Obi-Wan watched as the cruiser slowly gain speed on its way to orbit when Cody came by and asked "Something wrong sir?"

Kenobi simply replied "Something about that Longarm fellow . . . just doesn't set right with me."

"Whatever it is General, Tano is more than capable of taking care of herself" Cody comments.

"I do hope you are right Cody . . ." Kenobi said as the cruiser was now but a black spec against the clouds high above now leaving the atmosphere.

**Sorry for the delay guys, I had work the last three days and I added a Clone Wars mod to my old Star Wars Empire At War game and got carried away lol. I haven't forgotten about the story and I can tell you right now that it is far from over. As always leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you. **


	5. Unfavorable answers

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 5**

"**Unfavorable answers"**

[Orbit above Toydaira]

Longarm had just entered the cruiser's cockpit after leaving his blaster and electro-staff in one of the onboard quarters he claimed for himself, he found Ahsoka pressing buttons and flipping switches on the ship's main control panel when she turned her head and saw him walk in.

As Longarm takes the co-pilot seat next to her, she reports "Senator Amidala had already transferred the credits to my account; once we make it to another planet I can make a withdrawal and give you your fair share."

Longarm raises a hand in refusal saying "Keep it . . . they'll be put to better use under your supervision."

Ahsoka shrugged not wanting to argue and asked "Alright then, can you set the engines to hyperdrive? I already have the coordinates locked in for our next destination."

Longarm gave a glance to Ahsoka and said with an unconfident tone "Yeah sure, hyperdrive."

Ahsoka looked over to see Longarm scanning the controls unsure on which button or switch to use as he began quietly muttering "Hyperdrive . . . hyperdrive . . . hyperdrive . . ."

Ahsoka then comments "You don't know how to set the hyperdrive do you?"

"No no . . . just give me a moment . . . hah! Here it is!" Longarm quickly replies trying to reassure himself.

The SPARTAN pressed a button he was sure was the hyperdrive sequence initiator, after waiting a second the two heard the door open behind them with no one walking through.

Ahsoka and Longarm turned back to see the door open then Ahsoka turned to him saying with a smirk "That's the door controls . . . just admit it."

Longarm sat back in his chair letting out a sigh then said "Yeah I don't know . . . I can't even understand the writing here."

Ahsoka was surprised and asked "You don't know Aurebesh? That's one of the most basic things in the galaxy! Even little kids know that!"

"What do you expect from a guy that came from a different galaxy?" Longarm asks as he looks out the cruiser's viewport.

Ahsoka took a moment to think about that then asked "How did you even survive these last few years?"

Longarm remained staring out into the stars as he answers "A lot of stealing and running I guess. I did what I have to do to survive."

Ahsoka then asked "Okay . . . What did you do back in your galaxy, as in like what did they have you do?"

Longarm then glances at Ahsoka asking "What like an occupation?"

Tano nodded prompting the SPARTAN to answer that "I was a designated sniper, one of the best snipers in the galaxy. I also specialized in covert warfare, melee combat, and mechanical engineering."

She sat there quietly listening as Longarm continued "I also was trained to fly several strike craft and earned exceptional grading in officer leadership though I have a strong tendency to work alone unlike most of my kind."

"Why is that?" Ahsoka asked

"SPARTANs have been trained extensively to know by heart that teamwork is everything, not me. On nearly every operation I've been in with another SPARTAN, I always go my own way to get the job done even if it means going against my commander's orders. Nonetheless I always get it done with maximum efficiency" Longarm explains as he turns facing Ahsoka.

Tano then questioned "If teamwork is everything the why go against it?"

"Why did you leave the Jedi Order?" Longarm asks in response.

Ahsoka didn't know where Longarm was going with that question then answered "I left because; I felt that I couldn't trust those within the Order nor myself, I also left because I feel that I need to find my own path with the Force."

Longarm understood her meaning and comments "That's why I never worked alongside other SPARTANs, if something goes wrong then I can be ready for it and take the blame for our actions."

She gave him a confused expression which prompted him to say "I may not work well with others, but that doesn't mean I don't look after them."

One of the sensors on the control panel began blinking green rapidly; Longarm noticed it and asked "What is it?"

Ahsoka knew it was someone contacting them and she also knew who it was, she also knew that if Longarm found out that she was speaking with the person who attacked him then there would be serious consequences to pay dearly, using the knowledge that Longarm knows practically nothing of their technology she says "You said you specialized in mechanical engineering right? I need you to head towards the engine room and check on the ion converters, there's supposedly a systems malfunction."

The SPARTAN bought it as he shrugs his arms and walks out of the room doing as he was told, Ahsoka then pressed a button which allowed a holographic representation of Asajj Ventress to appear in front of her. Asajj was in her bounty hunter outfit with the intimidating helmet and gear as she held up a small portable holographic projector in her right hand.

"Judging that you're in a ship; you made it off Coruscant I take it?" Asajj asked.

Ahsoka nodded in confirmation as she states "We're in orbit above Toydaria, Longarm is with me but I sent him on a systems check around the engines just so I can get him out of the room."

"Good, have you learned anything about him?" Ventress asks as a worker droid walks pass her.

Ahsoka replies "I haven't gotten a lot out of him yet but I'm making better progress than you did."

"Keep working on it, I'm already at an ideal location for us to meet up but it is best that he does not know about this at all . . . for your own sake."

"I didn't know you cared for me" Ahsoka comments with a sarcastic grin.

Asajj hissed "I don't, I'm sending you the coordinates now. Get here as soon as possible."

The hologram dispersed just as Tano received the coordinates which appeared to be on Dantooine in the Raioballo Sector, she wasn't sure what she was going to find out there but she saw no other way as she began resetting the navcomputer to make a safe trip there. After setting the coordinates she pressed two different buttons and pushed a throttle lever all the way up and watched as the stars turn into a blur of black and blue as the cruiser jumps into hyperspace.

The door opens and Longarm's voice spoke "Well there was nothing wrong from what I could tell; I'm going to my quarters to rest for a moment."

Ahsoka turned around facing him in the doorway and said "Alright, I've already set a course for another system and we're making our way there as we speak."

Longarm didn't say anything but simply nods and leaves the cockpit to his room, the door shuts as Ahsoka turns back around to think about what kind of situation she was getting herself in. She was fully aware that she had deceived the SPARTAN but was not sure how well he would take it if he found out about it and if he does then she would have to pay the consequences dearly, she also became aware that the two of them were starting to have something in common such as their trust issues with their fellow allies. She was actually starting to like him despite his somewhat rough and resolute demeanor towards others, but she made the assumption backed up by the fact of Longarm's tendency to work alone that the SPARTAN had problems coexisting with others around him as a military. What she couldn't understand is why was someone like Longarm is to a degree enjoying the company of someone like her, she thought about the possibilities that maybe she represents a different ideology to him that he finds desirable, maybe she's the only one that has been kind to him unlike Ventress and the clone guards on Coruscant, her last thought was maybe Longarm is looking for a place or someone to call home or a family. The last thought prompted her into deeper thinking, Longarm's family must be proud to have him as a soldier protecting them, or maybe they were abusive when he was young which made him join the military that exists in his galaxy 'So why form an attachment with me? I'm just an ex-Jedi trying to find her own path now' she thought. Her head began to hurt in the next few moments of thinking and she decided to activate the auto-pilot systems and leave the cockpit for some time.

Longarm sat down at the personal desk in his quarters and brought the electro-staff on top for inspection and examination, the staff weighed around two kilograms at approximately four and a half feet long tipped off with a electromagnetic pulse emitter on each end when activated becomes surging with an electrical charge capable of damage ranging from a simply stun to a very lethal shock. The only problem however, was the fact that it was too cumbersome for Longarm to conveniently carry it around without having it slam into something, he noticed that the staff's main handling component was segmented for manufacturing purposes, this gave him an idea as he stood up taking the staff with him and headed for the door. After entering the main corridor of the small cruiser, the SPARTAN caught a glimpse of Ahsoka to his right who was now entering her room for reasons he didn't know. He dismissed the thought and made his way to the lower deck which held the boarding ramp and the cargo hold behind it, took a few minutes for Longarm to enter the hold and began searching through the disorganized crates for parts and tools.

As the SPARTAN searched through various crates to find what he was looking for, he couldn't find anything but scrap metal and damaged electrical components though he would rarely find something that actually works but had little use for them. Eventually he found something he could use, he found a handheld plasma torch that was powered by a small power unit similar to those he uses for his blaster, he turned several knobs and began to gently squeeze the trigger allowing a small stream of concentrated plasma to reach out of the nozzle, he then releases the trigger and holsters the tool on the magnetic strip on his right thigh. He takes the electro-staff placing it on top of two crates set next to each other and began to slowly dismantle the weapon with a slow burn of plasma emitting from his torch to make some 'modifications' on the weapon's design.

Less than two hours has passed since Ahsoka went to rest in her quarters to ease her mind, instead of sleeping she was attempting to meditate with the Force, a procedure not commonly done by young former Jedi. She wanted to know more about Longarm than he was willing to say, even though he had been open to questions she felt that he was hiding something from her that she needed to know. Using the teachings from Grand Master Yoda, she placed all her focus onto Longarm to search for answers about his past. She felt nothing but fear, pain, suffering, and great loss; she began having difficulties searching for answers because the emotions of the SPARTAN began to overwhelm her train of thought. She began to hear voices she has never heard of before, some sound human while others do not, she diverted her focus on to the voices in hopes of finding something but the voices were a jumbled mess varying from different times and places.

"Sierra one-twenty-one report that's an order!" a faint male voice called out.

"We got Covenant on approach watch your vectors" Longarm's voice spoke with a disturbing sense of calm.

Plasma fire broke out with a loud demoralizing alien roar mixed in with the cries of death of a human.

Tano began getting a faint image but it was clear enough for her to make out what it was, she stood in the middle of a large field on what she assumed to be an agricultural world where the sky was orange and black filled with smoke. She began to hear a unified march like an entire army was coming through; she couldn't find the source until she turned around and found this unbelievably massive army of alien species she never encountered before. There were creatures of all sizes and shapes as they marched determined to battle whatever foe they seek, small ones wearing tanks on their backs and armed with small energy based weapons, taller ones with a bird-like appearance armed with the occasional rifle, then there was these much larger ones adorned in armor with hind legs and mandibles around the mouth. The army was getting closer forcing Tano to prepare herself for battle but her weapons were nowhere to be found, she began to take steps backwards until she accidently tripped on something and fell. She looked at what she fell over and found a dead clone's body, he lied there motionless but something about the trooper's armor made her turn stone cold. The armor was partially painted blue in a pattern that she knew all too well.

"Rex . . .?" she asked not believing he was dead but the Captain did not respond.

Ahsoka quickly turns over Rex's body and found two stab wounds in his chest like somebody took a lightsaber and killed one of her closest friends. She stood back up in shock and disbelief as the alien army drew closer, she had no other choice but to leave Rex where he laid but the moment she turned around she found numerous dead bodies, ones she knew.

"No . . ." Ahsoka muttered to herself as tears came from her eyes.

Everyone she ever knew laid dead scattered across in front of her, Obi-Wan, Senator Amidala, Master Plo-Koon, Master Yoda, various other Jedi and even numerous clones, then there laid one body in the middle of the group . . . her master Skywalker.

"No!" Tano cried out defiantly not believing in all of this.

She turned around to face the army in defiance as the soldiers of this seemingly unstoppable force simply marched on passed her and over her deceased friends, one of the larger aliens however stopped merely feet in front of her looking down with a menacing glare. Ahsoka held her ground but then the alien lunged out and seized her neck within its left four-fingered hand and raised her several feet off the ground. Tano struggled to free herself but the alien's grip was firm, she couldn't take her blue eyes off of the alien's that was filled with hatred and fire.

The alien's mandibles moved as it spoke in a deep voice "Look out to the beyond and behold our unflinching strength."

Ahsoka continued to struggle but gradually ceased as she looked out beyond the initial waves of soldiers and saw what no one should ever see in their life, thousands upon millions of soldiers marched across the plains towards a common goal, beyond them were giant spider like monstrosities firing off green beams of concentrated plasma as they crushed whatever little resistance faced them, floating artillery platforms that gently glides over the surface in massive numbers. A trio of ground based aircraft soared above Tano forcing her to look up and behold entire fleets of warships numbering in the thousands flying overhead with colossal numbers of individual fighters flying along with them, some warships were larger than most known cruisers in the Clone Wars.

Ahsoka looked down at the alien still holding her up by the throat and asked coldly ". . . what are you?"

The alien spoke as it rehearsed an old religious verse "Your destruction is the will of the gods . . . and we are their instruments!"

Soldiers all around spoke in unison with the alien leader as they marched on:

"_When we joined the Covenant we took an oath!_

_**According to our station! All without exception!**_

_On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, _

_We swore to uphold the Covenant!_

_**Even to our dying breath!**_

_Those who would break this oath are Heretics,_

_Worthy of neither pity, nor mercy!_

_**We shall grind them into dust!**_

_And continue our march to glorious salvation!"_

The alien then raised its right hand revealing a weapon similar to a lightsaber hilt, the weapon activated with a loud pulse of energy as it formed into two curved energy blades coming out of both ends of the hilt and facing outwards. The alien cocked its right arm backwards readying his blade for the killing blow, and plunges the two blades into Ahsoka's abdomen who then cried out in sheer pain as the blades scorched the insides.

Tano came screaming back into reality in utter fear and pain, she was sitting on her bed when she jumped up to quickly and fell off hitting the floor with her back. Her eyes looked around wildly expecting to find the same alien standing before her ready to kill her for real but there was no one in the room but her. She placed one of her hands down around her stomach looking for any signs of cuts or stab wounds but felt none, she felt a brief moment of relief knowing that it was not real but fear came back into her for what she had discovered while searching through Longarm's feelings. Ahsoka figured that she have dove far too deep into Longarm which resulted in finding the one thing he hates and fears together. She breathed heavily from actually feeling the two blades go through her despite that it wasn't real, for several minutes she began to regulate her breathing back to a normal state. It was mere moments after her coming back to reality when she began to hear heavy footsteps rushing towards her door, the door opened and Longarm came rushing in with his blaster ready but found no hostiles.

He kneeled down next to Ahoska asking "What happened?"

Tano looked at Longarm's helmet as he stared down at her when she replied "It . . . it was nothing, I'm fine."

Longarm then called her by her name for the first time ever "Ahsoka Tano . . . it wasn't nothing otherwise you wouldn't have screamed like that."

The SPARTAN extended his hand down and pulled her up to her feet as she argued "No seriously it wasn't anything. I'm fine."

But Longarm didn't buy it as he watched her looking for any indications of lying; he then called her name again showing how serious he was treating the situation "Ahsoka . . ."

Tano took a moment to think then simply asked "What do you know . . . about the Covenant?"

Longarm sighed deeply hoping to have forgotten that word but he remained strong and says "Come with me down to the cargo bay, we can talk about that there."

The two then walked out of the room towards the cargo bay where the SPARTAN had been working. Ahsoka desperately needed answers now more than ever, she didn't know what he'll say but there was no doubt that she wasn't going to like it at all. Like it or not, this may be the only key to finding out what the SPARTAN really is and how he came into this galaxy.

**As a heads up, I'll be working on my 'Unforgotten' story quite a bit because it is nearing its end so it'll be some time before another chapter for 'Vanguard' will be posted. As always, leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	6. Truth and Cain

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 6**

"**Truth and Cain"**

[Hyperspace, on route to Dantooine]

While the two were walking towards the cargo bay, Longarm asks "So how did you know about the Covenant?"

Ahsoka was close behind when she asked worriedly "You want the truth?"

Longarm turned his head towards her as they walked "That's all I expect . . ."

Ahsoka took a moment to figure out where to start with then said "Well, of all the times I asked you questions I felt you were holding out on me. So when I got into my room I started to meditate and focus my energy on you, through using the force I could find out what you really know. Turns out I found one of the many things you kept hidden and now I know why."

Ahsoka was waiting for the SPARTAN to lash out and scold her about personal privacy, but instead he calmly said "I kept things from you for good reasons, if you wanted to know then you could have simply asked instead of poking around in my head."

"You're not angry at all?" Ahsoka asked carefully not expecting what Longarm would do.

"Angry? No. Upset that you have trust issues? Slightly but I can understand why" the SPARTAN explains as they came to the door that led into the cargo bay.

Ahsoka waited for Longarm to open the doors and walk in after him, she was expecting everything to be a plain and simple cargo bay with crates stacked up on each other. Instead she found that Longarm had turned the entire bay into his personal makeshift workshop, various workbenches made out of scrap metal that looked like they been slapped up onto each other with various components displayed on several tables, opened crates revealing their contents while others were closed and stacked up in a corner, a large crate acting as another table with a holographic projector displaying a luxury droid broadcasting a radio channel playing cantina music, there was even a makeshift crane which utilizes a orientated bar for Longarm to use when transporting a heavy component from table to table.

Longarm gestured with his hand to an unopened crate for Ahsoka to take a seat on and asked while returning to his work "So you Jedi can see into peoples' minds and read them out like a book?"

Ahsoka sat down on the crate watching the SPARTAN assemble something when she answered "Some Jedi do, it's not easy but it can be done."

The SPARTAN took a quick glance at a magnetic conductor rod sitting in a crate then returned to his work while beginning his answer to Ahsoka's earlier question "The Covenant is a collective alliance of multiple alien species united under a religious hegemony devoted to the belief of something they call 'The Great Journey'. The religious leaders of the Covenant, known as Prophets, had declared my kind as an affront to their gods and ordered our immediate destruction."

Ahsoka comments "So this is the war you mentioned on Senator Amidala's shuttle, the one that lasted nearly twenty-five years and counting."

Longarm nods "Right, at first we had the advantage over them but that was simply because they underestimated us. Eventually they brought down the hammer and devastated our first responding forces consisting of several fleets and armies, when conventional warfare began to fail; we had to resort to the use of nuclear warfare and the use of SPARTAN super soldiers."

"What's the progress of the war the last time you heard?" Tano asked.

Longarm stopped wielding a component to another and thought about that, he then said "As of four years ago since I first came here . . . the UNSC had just lost another human colony and the Covenant slowly pushing through our defenses towards to our core worlds, even home."

Ahsoka noticed Longarm simply staring at the tools in front of him, she could sense his anger and frustration then asked "Hey . . . are you alright?"

The SPARTAN snapped out of his deep thought saying "Hmm? Oh yeah . . . of course you were asking me about something . . ."

It came clear to Ahsoka that Longarm wasn't thinking straight at this point and decided to change the subject before it could get worse, she comments while looking around the cargo bay "You weren't kidding about specializing in mechanical engineering . . . I'm very impressed."

Longarm saw what she was trying to do but simply decided to go with it for his own sake, he said "Oh yeah? Wait till you see what I can do with a long-range anti-material rifle, you'll be amazed by how far I can hit a target."

Ahsoka asked "What is it like, to be a sniper?"

Longarm began speaking from experience "Well . . . you need a large amount of patience and a good eye to put things in short. Maybe one day I could teach you on how to handle a rifle and sharpshoot."

"I know how to handle a blaster, I think I know what I'm doing" Tano claims confidently.

Longarm corrected her "You forget, my weapons are projectile based. You'll need me to teach you how to handle one if it comes to that."

Tano thought about that for a moment then said gratefully "Thanks, I'd like that."

Longarm grinned underneath his helmet and went back to work, to Ahsoka it appeared that Longarm was making some sort of slug-thrower but none of the parts she recognized other than the pistol grip and the main housing mechanism.

She soon asks "What are you making?"

Longarm finishes putting together an optical scope when he answers "Well, back on Toydaria I noticed the blaster wasn't quite strong enough to put those larger droids down faster than I hoped, so right now I'm going with a more unconventional weapon design that'll make those thick armored tin cans a thing of the past, that's if I can figure out the power supply."

Ahsoka was glad to know that Longarm was a no nonsense kind of guy and is willing to take the initiative to do something but she asks "Why not take a DC-15A, they pack a little more firepower than what you have?"

Longarm thought about that for several moments then said "Nah, better to stick with what I know how to use and how to make it better, are we nearing our destination?"

Ahsoka climbs off the crate saying "I'll go check, be back in a few."

Longarm resumed his duties while Ahsoka leaves the cargobay/workshop towards the cruiser's cockpit, on her way up she began to wonder about the war Longarm's kind was still fighting. It was no doubt that his kind has fought hard against alien aggressors for over three decades purely on the need of survival as a species, she also began to wonder why the Covenant would call humanity an affront that should be eradicated. She eventually puts those thoughts aside as she comes aboard the cruiser's cockpit and took up her seat where she began checking the controls in front of her, judging from the instruments they will drop out of hyperspace over Dantooine in several minutes. Just then her ship began receiving a transmission from Asajj once again.

Ahsoka takes a quick glance at the door behind her before she presses a button allowing a hologram of ventress to appear, Ahsoka states "We'll be exiting hyperspace soon and will be making our descent down to the surface."

Ventress replies "Good, the facility I'm in will provide us the isolation and means of studying our metal friend. Speaking of which did you find anything about him?"

Tano answers "Yeah . . . he's not from our galaxy and from what he told me he and his kind are at war with an alliance of aliens called the Covenant, he's been fighting for nearly three decades. That'd explain his skills at unarmed combat and shooting."

Ventress didn't seem surprise but this definitely caught her attention "Really? I've heard of talks and theories about extragalactic beings but this is certainly is interesting. I'm sending you the coordinates of the base, I'll be wai—wait what was that?" Asajj now seemed distracted by something off hologram.

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow asking "What's going on?"

The former sith assassin then quickly drew her dual lightsabers and was immediately attacked by a unknown figure wearing a cloak over what looked like to be Mandalorian battle armor, the figure didn't wield any sort of lightsaber but instead shot out a storm of lightning and tossed Ventress off hologram. Ahsoka watched as the figure simply walked off hologram in a calm manner before the transmission ended, now was the time to tell Longarm the truth and help him prepare for combat against this unknown assailant. She gets up from her seat and rushes for the door when it opened revealing the towering SPARTAN-ll standing there and that's when she became utterly afraid, he heard everything.

"Longarm!?" Ahsoka cried out in surprise moments before the SPARTAN lunged at her grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against a wall holding her just above the ground.

She tried to make a move for her lightsaber but the super soldier was quick to disarm her and bring his DC-15S blaster right up to her head growling "Give me one damn good reason not to shoot you right now!"

The SPARTAN's grip on her throat made it difficult for her to breath or even speak for that matter but she manages to utter "I—I'm s-sorry . . . I was g-oing to tell you-"

"A little too late for that don't you think!? What was Ventress planning to do anyways?"

Ahsoka couldn't help but be frightened as she looked into the black narrow visor of his E.O.D helmet and sense the anger and betrayal within him, she tries to loosen his grip with her arms but his hand wouldn't budge an inch, she said "Ventress wanted- me to—bring y-ou to—Dantooine so—she could s-study you . . ."

Longarm loosened up his grip seeing Ahsoka start to black out and simply decided to let her go completely allowing her to fall to the ground desperately gasping for air, he kneels down next to her and said "I'd appreciate it if you didn't hide things from me like that again. The more I know the better I can handle situations."

Ahsoka managed to get her breath back to say "You really have a way of getting people to talk don't you?"

"You're lucky I could've done worse" he says before he presents her lightsabers in his hand, she takes them into her hands and got back up to her feet where she starts seeing the SPARTAN walk back through the door but before he left bridge he said "I solved that power situation for my new weapon, I'll be ready for combat in two minutes" and left.

Ahsoka rubbed her hand around her neck luckily feeling no bruises but the power behind his grip was unbelievable, nonetheless she returns to her seat just as their cruiser exits hyperspace above Dantooine and begin their descent to the surface below.

It was about ten minutes later when she sets the ship on auto-pilot and meets Longarm fully equipped for combat waiting down at the off ramp, she was hesitant to say anything to him after that stunt he pulled on the bridge but she didn't blame him, his kind was losing a war she knew little of and for all he knows they could be dead by now leaving him as humanity's sole survivor.

She watches him prime his blaster and holster it onto his thigh plating, next he drew his little pet project that consists of a typical grip, adjustable stock, and a breech loading firing mechanism where a single projectile is loaded into the chamber, the barrel however was nothing like she seen before made up of two twenty eight inch magnetic parallel conducting rails one above the other with a two inch gap in between. She sees him pull out a rather unusually looking solid object and insert it into the empty breech before pressing it down into locked position with the object now in the firing chamber, next he pulls out a small cylindrical power cell roughly the same size as the projectile used to power large mining equipment.

He inserts the cell into a small empty pocket located under the stock of the rifle plugging it in and powering up the weapon that gave a low hum, this new weapon of his prompted the young padawan to ask "What is that thing?"

Longarm answers as he gives one last check over "A mass accelerator rifle system, not as streamlined as the ARC-920 but hopefully just as effective."

"Mass accelerator rifle system? You mean like a railgun?"

"Simply put yes."

"And what are you using as ammo?"

"I've managed to use unorthodox methods with some high-end burners to melt some scrap metal and mold them into what you see. I've only managed to make seven of these during the time you left and the . . . well you know."

Ahsoka for a moment fell silent until they felt the ship shift as it begins to arrive at the designated landing pad outside the large facility Ventress was based in and she says "Look I'm sorry . . ."

"No I'm sorry, if you said you were going to tell me then I believe you. It was just bad timing and I didn't react to it all too well."

"Right . . ." Tano said before the ramp automatically opens letting out a hiss as pressurized air rushes out into the outside world.

At first they couldn't see anything from the initial blinding daylight but their eyes quickly adjusted and found the landing pad beneath their feet, in the distance they heard Ventress's typical battle cry as she engages her seemingly unarmed attacker in close quarters. On that note the SPARTAN holsters his makeshift rifle and draws his blaster before rushing down the loading ramp and leap off before the cruiser made a gentle landing, he quickly sees Ventress in the distance swinging her two red lightsabers trying to cut away at a figure in a grey cloak that was all too agile. Ventress swings high hoping to decapitate her foe but the enigmatic man quickly ducks backwards avoiding the blade before dropping down and perform a low sweep with his right leg and catches Ventress's feet knocking her off onto the ground.

The man spoke down to the downed assassin with a deep voice full of power and authority but with a sense of eerie calm "Asajj Ventress, you will atone for your crimes before a proper court."

Ventress growled angrily "You will never take me back to the Jedi temple!"

The man corrects her however "I did not say anything about the Jedi . . ." and then creates a blade comprised of focused electricity ready to strike her with a stunning blow.

Ahsoka finally comes out of the ship after it has landed and spots Ventress at the figure's mercy, she turns to the SPARTAN next to her and yells "Longarm!"

He nods and moves in firing off accurate blue bolts of energy from his compact blaster, the first bolt passes by the man's head much to his surprise when he turns to see this towering seven foot black soldier in bulky armor, at first glimpse the helmet seemed to be the makings of a clone trooper but the physiology was all wrong for it to be a trooper '_Interesting. . . I do not sense the force within this one'_ he thought. Nonetheless the soldier fires off a shot bound for the man's head and so he makes the only proper response, he lets go of his saber of lightning allowing it to dissipate into thin air before drawing his actual lightsaber erecting a yellow blade and deflect the incoming shot back to its origin.

The bolt came screaming back and slams itself into the SPARTAN's chest where the shields reacted and countered it visibly making an orange-yellow ripple across his body, Ahsoka calls out "Longarm!"

Longarm responded "I'm fine! Re-engaging!" before continuing his assault on his primary target.

After realizing the soldier had shields protecting his body the man realizes this being must be subjugated immediately or else getting away will be much too difficult, he turns to face the attacking giant and begins sprinting forward dodging and weaving through blaster fire and deflecting those few that was close to hitting him. He had to admit this soldier had far better accuracy compared to other soldiers in the Clone Wars but this was proved irrelevant once he got into close range with the giant. He deactivates his lightsaber holstering it right away before throwing a fast palm thrust against the soldier's lower gut breaking the failing shields and land a successfully blow, the SPARTAN however didn't even flinch and throws a strong lift handed fist but the man backs away in time to avoid the would-have-been fatal blow and quickly after that he and the giant were locked in a quick and vicious brawl. Longarm quickly holsters his blaster and immediately follow up with a one-two uppercut but the man avoided those knowing just one blow could be it, he in return swings a karate chop directed towards the SPARTAN's right neck and shoulder joint but the soldier throws up his armored gauntlet blocking the hit and come back with a debilitating punch to the gut.

The man staggered backwards reeling from the hit and recovers quickly before shooting out a shard of lightning making contact with the soldier all around the body but to his surprise it did not seemingly phase the giant one bit due to the heavy armor, the SPARTAN quickly breaks free from the lightning storm in time for the man to say "I must say I'm impressed by your durability, I have underestimated you."

Longarm replies "Never underestimate a SPARTAN-ll" before lunging at the man once more.

The man backs away performing a backwards cartwheel before returning with a high kick impacting against Longarm's left side, the SPARTAN immediately responds by wrapping his left arm around the man's leg and virtually immobilizes his target. This gave him enough time to grasp the man's coat with his right arm and yank it off revealing more about the figure to find out his target was a Cerean, a species recognized by their enlarged skulls over their foreheads, with a black beard and no visible hair.

The SPARTAN demands with a threatening tone "Who are you!?"

The Cerean calmly replies "Cain . . ." before unleashing a violent storm of intensified electricity engulfing the giant in pain and shock forcing him to let go of his leg.

Cain then took the moment to spot Ahsoka helping Ventress up and realize that he was hopelessly outnumbered, there was no way for him to effectively hold up against a jedi, a sith assassin, and whatever this 'SPARTAN-ll' was and so his only option was to retreat. He quickly turns back to the SPARTAN to see him recovered and a combat knife drawn in his right hand held in the reverse grip position, Longarm takes a quick swing but Cain ducks and delivers a roundhouse kick to the soldier's gut causing him to heel over before dashing away for a small speeder bike located not too far away.

Ahsoka yells "Longarm stop him!"

The soldier looks up to see Cain making a run for the bike and said gruffly "Oh no you don't" before drawing out his mass accelerator rifle and take aim.

Shortly after he pulls the trigger allowing the magnetic rods to charge up and the initial firing mechanism spooling up as well, there was a five second delay between the pull of the trigger and the firing. The weapon reached maximum charge before launching the shell at speeds up to six kilometers a second, the round zipped past the fleeing Cain and shredded the bike in two once it made impact followed up with the massive kinetic force that traveled behind it. Cain hesitantly stops before finding no other option but to pull out a thermal detonator from his mandalorian armor and hurl it over at the pursuing jedi and sith.

Ventress catches sight of the detonator in mid-flight and calls out "Grenade!" before she and Ahsoka dove for cover while the SPARTAN shields himself.

The resulting blast was massive throwing a shockwave in every direction but causing little structural damage to the pad and facility, once the smoke and dust cleared everyone looked around to find no trace of Cain leading them to believe he had gotten away.

Ventress stands next to Ahsoka and asks "You couldn't have come at a better time could you?"

Ahsoka shrugs with a sarcastic grin "What can I say? Traffic."

The former assassin rolls her eyes before finding the SPARTAN walking up to her looking as if he was about to beat the living hell out of her, once he comes up to them he says with a hint of animosity "You better have a damn good reason we're here right now and who the hell that guy was."

Asajj answered "I don't know who he was but the force within him was strange . . ."

Ahsoka adds "Waving between the light and dark . . . he seemed misguided but yet his intentions were clear. Something we don't understand yet."

Ventress comments "Yet. As for why we're here we'll talk more once we're inside" she starts to walk away with Ahsoka and Longarm close behind but she stops momentarily to say "And please, don't shoot up the place would you dear?"

The SPARTAN made no response after that and soon followed the two into the building where they plan to truly find out Longarm's personal past and intentions in this galaxy.

**I am ABSOLUTELY sorry for the long wait everyone! Things came up that demanded my attention and I only had little time to write parts of this chapter while on the go. Also I would like to thank my friend, Laurent Chartier, in creating Cain's character. As always leave your comments and thoughts.**


	7. The seven foot tall lab rat

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 7**

"**Seven foot tall lab rat"**

[Dantooine, old abandoned military facility]

The unlikely trio of beings passed through the threshold of the facility now traveling down through a tunnel that lead further into the facility, at first it seemed truly abandoned until they went further inside and begun to see droids walking about maintaining the place with the outdated equipment they had.

Ahsoka had to ask "What is this place?"

Ventress was keeping ahead of the group as she answered "An old republic military base used for weapons development back during the days of the old Republic."

Longarm was silent throughout the trip seemingly distrustful of Ventress after what happened on Coruscant, he thought to himself thinking he should of killed her then and there instead of going easy on her. The same could've gone for the enigmatic Cain but he could tell that Ahsoka and Asajj wanted the man alive for questioning, he finally makes the decision of no longer taking things easy, should anyone threaten him he would make them wish they were already dead.

Ahsoka sensed this feeling of anger within the SPARTAN and became wary of it, by that time they started walking pass a set of windows looking down into what seemed to be a combat simulation room, she asks "What's this?"

Asajj answers "Combat simulation, trainees would go here to fight against combat training droids armed with weapons set on stun. And guess who's going to be its first combatant in over several centuries."

The two stopped and looked at the SPARTAN-ll who stood behind them, Tano then asks "You ready to impress?"

Longarm simply nodded before Asajj said "Good" and turns to Ahsoka saying "Take him down to the lower level and have him prepped for testing."

On that note Asajj left to be somewhere else, Ahsoka crossed her arms frowning at the leaving assassin thinking she should say something but soon finding out it's not worth it at the moment, she turns to the SPARTAN and said "Come on Longarm, let's get you ready so you can show her what you're made of."

The SPARTAN-ll nodded and started to follow Tano to the lower level where he'll get prepped for the unnecessary observation session, he didn't need to be constricted to this sort of procedures or regulations. Although he was use to this sort of thing within the UNSC it was all for the better good of humanity to ensure the halt of the Covenant's advance into human space, this sort of thing he was going through now is only meant for Asajj and Ahsoka to find out who he was, find out what his intentions are, and decide whether or not he's too dangerous to be kept alive.

Ahsoka sensed his frustration and said "Something's troubling you . . . I can feel it."

Longarm responded "I don't need to be here."

"Where else would you be? If it wasn't for me you'd still be stuck on Coruscant."

"And I thank you for that, but I still have other matters to attend to."

Ahsoka thought for a quick second before asking "Your ship right?"

The SPARTAN sighed "It crashed on a distant planet with me as the only survivor. It's currently being repaired by the only one I can trust."

"Wait if you're the only survivor then who's repairing the ship?"

"Currently confidential, all you need to know is that I need to get back there one way or another."

"I can help you if you tell me where it is."

Longarm thought about it, while Tano is somewhat trustworthy for what they've been through together, the location of his ship was still too important for it to be revealed to outside ears, he says "I can't tell you that."

"And why not?"

"Because I have protocols to follow, I may be far away from home but that doesn't mean I get to do whatever on my own free will."

The Togruta sighed "Fine I understand, but if you're thinking about breaking out of here I'm pretty sure Ventress is not going to make it easy. Then again I don't think you ever understood the word easy."

The SPARTAN chuckled "Hmhm."

They soon entered an elevator where Ahsoka pressed a button and begun their brief descent, once the elevator reached its designated level the two resumed their walk to the entrance before the simulation room. On their way to their destination the SPARTAN began to ponder about that 'Cain' character he encountered earlier, a man that 'waved between the light and dark' as Tano put it.

They passed a pair of maintenance droids when Longarm asks "Do you know anyone that goes by the name of Cain?"

Ahsoka thought for a brief moment before stating "I've heard stories of a Cain Komari back when I was under the teachings of Master Yoda, he was a Jedi Knight within the order that openly opposed the Clone Wars but he normally kept to himself. Word has it he died while investigating the murder of his master. Nobody saw him ever since."

The SPARTAN let out a "Hmm . . ." prompting Tano to ask "What're you thinking?"

He looks down at her saying "Nothing yet, just possibilities."

She suddenly stops and asks "You think the guy you fought was _the _Cain Komari?"

The soldier stops as well and says calmly "Like I said, possibilities."

The two resumed their walk passing by several more droids, the idea of them walking nonchalantly through an old republic base being manned by outdated droids mixed in with what few separatists battle droids Ventress managed to recover seemed odd to the two. It also evidently became clear that the assassin was not taking any chances hoping to make sure the SPARTAN-ll was contained and unable to escape or bring the whole place down on their heads, which he could do easily once given access to explosive ordnance. They were beginning to near the entrance to the simulation room, the muscles tensed in the SPARTAN's arms and his hand was already prepared to draw his blaster and shoot on a moment's notice on every potential threat he saw pass by. They finally come by the door where a pair of reprogrammed B1 battle droids stood guard armed with their typical E-5 blaster rifles.

One of the guards steps up and orders "Hold it right there" before bringing up a facial scanner and pointed it at Ahsoka, after a brief moment the scanning was complete and the droid says "Alright you're cleared to enter by the Mistress's command."

Tano was tempted to cut the droid down with her lightsabers but that was past experience and training yelling to her to do so, but she suppresses those feelings and calmly says "Thank you" before gesturing the SPARTAN to follow her in.

The droid steps back and presses several keys on a door pad causing it to open with a hiss of air allowing the young Togruta and SPARTAN to walk inside where he'll ready himself for combat, the door calmly slid back closed behind them making the prepping room dark until a dull red light came on seconds later. Longarm then got to work readying his blaster, his mass accelerator rifle, and the electro-staff taken from one of Grevious's guards back on Toydaria.

In the process of preparing for combat, Tano states "Ventress and I will be watching from the observation post on the higher level, I don't have to explain what you have to do here."

The SPARTAN sensed a hint of worry in her voice when she told him that, he stops what he was doing for a brief moment and looked down to her saying in a calm and confident "I'll be fine . . ."

Ahsoka took a moment to think about those words and that tone he just spoke to her in, a second later she silently nods and walks out of the room where the droids allowed her out. Longarm watched her leave before putting his focus back to himself and his weapons, he was nearly done with everything except for his rifle, he takes that out and inserts another cartridge into the magazine feed and presses down on the breech loading the round into the chamber. With the rifle charged and ready he slaps it back onto his back magnetic strip and brings out his compact DC-15S blaster carbine, soon the large bulkhead door opens up in front of him revealing the floor of the simulation room, as expected he calmly walks out into the bright room and looks up to his right to see Ventress and Tano watching from above behind blaster proof windows.

Inside the observation post, Ahsoka glances at Asajj who was staring down at the SPARTAN and says "I don't think this is a good idea . . ."

Ventress hissed "It's none of your concern. You already done your part so there's nothing holding you back here."

"Wait what do you mean?"

"I mean you better leave while you still can, before I decide to kill you and collect your bounty."

Tano frowned at the assassin that was threatening her, it became clear now that this little alliance of three was now broken and there was nothing holding them back from killing each other but Ventress seemed more focused on Longarm than her.

The former Jedi sighed and said "Fine, have it your way . . ." and begins to walk away leaving Longarm in Ventress's control.

The SPARTAN watched as Ahsoka started to leaving abandoning him here with the bald wicked witch, at first he seemed angry feeling he has been betrayed by one he was beginning to think of as a friend but he calmed himself believing that this was bound to happen sooner or later. He then saw Asajj make a hand signal to an OOM-Series battle droid commander marked by their yellow stripes, the droid nodded and pressed several buttons on a board. Seconds later on the far side of the room across from Longarm, three doors embedded in the wall began to open showing nothing but darkness inside but soon enough he heard that distinct clank of B1 battle droids marching. Three by three battle droids marched out of each door with more stacked up behind them, the SPARTAN takes aim with his clone blaster carbine and waits for the first shot to ring out.

One droid calls out "Target sighted! Attack!" followed with a large chorus of "Roger Roger!"

Then suddenly the droids fanned out and started firing a barrage of lasers towards the SPARTAN-ll who responded immediately firing off accurate bursts of fire already putting down four droids within the first two seconds of fighting. Asajj watched as countless battle droids fell one by one to this single super soldier who ducked and weaved through incoming blaster fire with surprising agility for such a large a bulky figure as he effortlessly destroys a number of battle droids with a mere carbine commonly used among clone troopers. Nonetheless and seemingly endless number of droids marched out of those three doors and began to slowly push the SPARTAN back that was not showing signs of giving up in the slightest despite the heavy blaster fire he was facing. One bolt slams into Longarm's side and his shields reacted as expected and held, that instant he holsters his carbine and simply vanished into thin air causing the droids to cease fire and look around confused.

Ventress eyes opened wide not believing he had simply disappeared, she turns to the commander and yells "Report!"

The commander said "Scans indicate a lifeform is still present in the room Mistress, it appears he has optical camouflage."

That statement calmed the assassin and prompted her to start looking for any signs of movement, at first none could be seen until she noticed a distorted ripple smoothly moving through the unsuspecting crowd of droids, but even if she could warn the droids, it was far too late. The next instant the SPARTAN reveals himself armed with his electro-staff and immediately takes down the five droids closest to him with a fast series of swings and jabs, a sixth droid responds quickly and charges at the soldier but he counteracts with a powerful roundhouse kick slamming his right foot against the metal combat chassis and virtually destroys the internal components inside the droid with the sheer concussive force of the impact. Quickly afterwards the remaining droid army responds and begins to close in on the lone SPARTAN who was still far from quitting, Longarm quickly draws his carbine once more and wields it single handedly as he begins to shoot down more droids that continued their assault. The next instant his carbine was shot out of his hand by a lucky droid who then became unlucky when the SPARTAN hurled his electro-staff like a javelin and the staff pierced through its armored body. Longarm then proceeded to pick up two discarded E-5 blaster rifles dropped by a pair of dead droids and begins shooting down the remaining droids but not before taking some rounds himself that shattered his shields after the third hit, with his armor now exposed the droids pressed the advance firing their weapons. Blaster fire slams and bursts against the hard Titanium-A plating while deflecting the occasional glancing blows but his bodysuit still remained quite vulnerable to enemy fire despite its Titanium-nanocomposite material. But those shots didn't slow the seven foot soldier down from viciously gunning down the remaining droids until none were left standing.

The droid commander reports to Asajj "Mistress, all sixty units have been destroyed."

Ventress looked down at the battle fresh SPARTAN super soldier and said "He's certainly no Jedi but anyone can best a simple B1 . . . send in the B2s."

"Roger Roger" the commander responded before pressing several keys on the board in front of it.

On the floor, Longarm tried to relieve himself of the pain by taking a tiny syringe, filled with morphine mixed with a serum containing similar properties of the standard issued biomedical foam that helps repair damaged tissue and nerves, and inserts it into one of his injector ports on his MJOLNIR Mk. V armor. The suit automatically injects the contents of the syringe and he slowly begins to feel the relief of pain thanks to the morphine though it would take more time for the serum to act as it makes its way through his bloodstreams to the damaged area around his abdomen. Soon enough more marching was heard coming through the center door and when he looks inside he could see that ominous red glowing circle and a pair of white slit eyes he realizes his next set of opponents. The first trio of super battle droids marched with a heavy footstep as they taking aim with their wrist-mounted dual repeating blaster cannons and open fire with much greater accuracy than the B1s. The SPARTAN readies his dual blasters and returns fire sending several bolts slamming against the hardened durasteel plating of the dark grey walking tanks and only managing to take one down. Realizing that the typical blaster was not very effective against the enhanced armor, Lonagrm tossed his blasters aside and bring out his accelerator rifle out loaded for bear taking aim almost immediately. He pulls the trigger initiating the charge up sequence and five seconds later launched the projectile inside out towards the center droid, the hypervelocity round slams into the battle droid's chest and visibly tore it apart with metal and limbs breaking apart as the round continued on its projected course with enough kinetic energy to pass through two more droids and destroying the fourth where it remains embedded inside. The other droids pressed the assault firing away at the SPARTAN-ll as he reloads inserting a new round into the empty breech, once loaded he begins another charge up sequence and sends another round downrange against the approaching droids and destroys another three in the process. The droids however continued pressing the assault and the super soldier didn't have time to load another round and fire before they were on top of him, he slaps the rifle onto his back and charges the super battle droids. The next instant he felt a strong rush of adrenaline, a byproduct of bio-chemicals in his body, and his perception of time became distorted, this was the last trump card Longarm had up his sleeve.

Spartan Time.

In the SPARTAN's eyes everything had slowed down to a near halt, droids continued firing but at a much slower rate and the bolts of ionized energy slowly made their way through the air towards their intended target. Longarm slowly ducked and weaved past every bolt of energy and soon got face to face with the closest droid, he cocks his right arm back as far as he could and launches it like rocket sending his fist smashing into the hardened metal chassis with such brute force. With time slowed down the SPARTAN could see the resulting shockwave caused by the devastating impact ripple across the droid's body and the armor around the impact zone began to buckle and warp trying to compensate for the force but it ultimately failed allowing his fist to pass through the outer shell and cause internal damage on a massive scale. He pulls his arm out of the now deceased battle droid and turns his attention to the next close to him, he reaches for his combat knife and brings it out held in the reversed grip position and twirls his whole body around clockwise sending the blade straight into the optical sensors within the droid's featureless 'face'. The seven inch titanium-ceramic carbide blade pierces the droid's right eye and practically shredded whatever was behind the optics causing the machine to immediately power down and the SPARTAN turned to his next unfortunate target.

In real time, Ventress was unbelievably shocked by the vicious brutality and force the soldier was capable of, after watching a super battle droid essentially disintegrate under the SPARTAN-ll's tremendous force, she orders the droid commander "Send in the droidekas now!"

The commander acknowledged "Roger Roger" and pressed a lone key on the board.

Ventress then resumed watching in surprise and interest as the SPARTAN literally tore the remaining few droids apart with such ferocity, she mutters to herself quietly "This could be what I need to finally get my revenge on Dooku . . ."

Longarm just finished eliminating the last super battle droid that was left standing and started to breathe heavily thinking it was finished until he started to hear something rolling his way, seconds later a pair of rolling droids plated with maroon red armor appears out of the center door way and quickly deployed into three-legged machines with a skeletal-like chassis with three small red optics and armed with two dual-linked repeating cannons, what made matters entirely worse was once they deployed themselves into combat status a bluish clear shield developed around them and they began firing away at a rapid pace. This time the SPARTAN was outmatched and quickly cloaks himself to avoid fire, during he moves off to the side wall and brings out his mass accelerator where he loads the last round he had brought with him into the breech and takes aim at the droid standing to his left. The roller droids searched vigilantly for their target until a hypervelocity metal slug shot out of nowhere impacting of the droid's shields, once the projectile made first contact against the energy barrier the shield seemed to have stopped it but the massive kinetic energy traveling behind the slug caught up and overloaded the droid's shielding output allowing the metal round to smash right through the shields and on its way to the droid's fragile exoskeleton and tore it in half. The second droideka quickly turns catching sight of the SPARTAN appearing out of thin air and begun firing away sending bolts of energy smashing into the human's energy shielding and eventually breaking through to the exposed armor. Shot by shot sent the SPARTAN hitting his back against the wall until several rounds later when the soldier slumped down against the wall with his armor riddled with blast marks.

Minutes passed when the barely conscious SPARTAN heard light footsteps accompanied by the distinct metallic ones and a figure appeared in front of him, he looks up to see Ventress standing there as she bends down and says "You've shown skill and courage which is hard to come by, but with you I can finally exact my revenge on Count Dooku. But for now rest, because once you wake up I want to know everything that you know . . ."

Longarm attempted to stand but his body wouldn't allow it, he has taken too many blasts from the droids and he was slowly starting to succumb to his pain, eventually . . . he passed out with his vision fading into darkness.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	8. Stay down

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 8**

"**Stay down"**

[Dantooine, old abandoned military facility]

[Two days later]

Longarm was beginning to come back to finding himself on a small bed inside a small dark 10x10x10 room with the only source of light being a dull red light similar to that of the prepping room, he begins to look around seeing if he could find a way out but the only way was a single door that seemed to be locked and most likely under heavy guard. He begins to move but quickly finds out his hands had been cuffed by an advanced locking mechanism utilizing a special electromagnetic field binding the two cuffs together. He tries to pull them apart but gave little effort to do so, he only wanted to test the strength of the field, he looks around again and then at himself to find himself without any weapons which didn't surprise him at all.

Several quiet minutes later and the door swung open allowing Asajj Ventress to walk in accompanied by two armed BX-Series commando droids and a OOM droid commander carrying a remote pad, she finds the SPARTAN awake laying there and comments with sinister intent in her voice "You're finally awake . . ."

Longarm comments sarcastically "Sorry to keep you waiting . . ."

She scoffs "Indeed . . . now I want to know everything in that little metal head of yours, or I'll have to resort to more extreme measures."

"Like what? Another round in the simulation room? Yeah try replacing all those droids I scrapped."

"No! I'll have a medical droid come in here and administer a truth serum so you'll tell me everything I want to know no matter what" she hissed.

He sets himself up on the bed and laughed "Ha! SPARTANs don't break that easy."

The assassin frowned "We'll see about that . . ." she took a step forward and states "Sources inform me that you have a ship from your own galaxy, you will give me the location of that ship and the details behind it."

"Sorry miss, not going to happen."

"Perhaps you misheard me . . ." she moves closer to the SPARTAN and calmly waves her hand across Longarm's helmet stating with a calm voice as she attempts a mind trick "You will tell me the location of your ship . . ."

The SPARTAN stood up towering over the assassin and states with a cold fearless tone "Not. Happening."

The commando droids steps up and takes aim ready to shoot the SPARTAN but Ventress waves them to stand down and said "Very well, have it your way . . ."

In the next instance, Longarm was hurled across the room smashing into the walls, ceiling, and floor viciously before finally slamming against the back wall where Ventress had him pinned with the force and she begun to squeeze around his neck, she asks with a more forceful tone "Tell me about the ship!"

Longarm decided to give the non-classified information so he utters with some difficulties "UN-SC Va-guard, des—troyer class . . ."

Asajj demands "Go on . . ."

"Coor-dinates . . . Alp—bite –me—syst-em . . ."

The droid commander presses several buttons on its tablet and reports "Uh I don't see a Aplbiteme system on the registry Mistress."

Ventress snarled "That's because there isn't one you idiot!" and slams the SPARTAN against the wall once more before dropping him on the ground, she turned to one of commando droids "You, go fetch a medical droid and bring a canister of truth serum now!"

The droid responded with a low "Roger Roger" before marching away, she then turned to the other commando droid "You, stay here and watch over him. If he as so much moves an inch shoot him but I want him alive."

The droid nodded and watched Ventress and the droid commander walk away as if they had other matters to attend to, once they was gone the droid took up its post near the door and kept its optics firmly locked on the SPARTAN who sat there against the wall barely moving from the beating he just took from the assassin.

Several silent minutes passes before Longarm looked up to see the droid standing guard, he chuckled lightly "Ha, you know it's funny."

The droid ordered "Quiet."

But the human disobeyed "Or what? You going to shoot me? You'll risk killing me and we both know that isn't what she wants.

The commando droid walks over and slams the side of its gun against Longarm's EOD helmet and yelled "Quiet!"

The SPARTAN continued talking however "Wow hitting me upside the head, that's low man even for you, keep that up and I'll be dead for sure!"

The droid had had enough of Longarm's ranting and immediately aims its blaster right up against the SPARTAN's temple, at that very instant he broke free of his restraints using his augmented strength and lunges at the commando droid that was taken by surprise. He pushes the droid's right arm aside with his left hand pointing the gun elsewhere and simultaneously throws a devastating right fist that smashed into the droid's head and virtually destroying it, he lets the droid hit the ground with a loud thud before retrieving the fallen blaster.

A B1 battle droid called out from outside "Hey! What's going on in there!?"

Longarm rushes over to the side of the door readying his E-5 blaster before the droid threatens "Report! Don't make me come in there!"

He hears the door hiss open and a watches a droid walk in, the battle droid quickly notices the SPARTAN and yells "Hey! You're not authorized t—"

He quickly shoots down the droid and rushes out the door where a squad of droids waited for him, a droid from behind scoffs "Ha! We have you surrou— WAAH!"

The SPARTAN quickly grabs the droid and uses it as a shield just mere seconds before the others started shooting, while his hostage was taking the hits he returned fire with deadly accuracy taking down the remaining droids before dropping his dead droid shield onto the ground. With the guards now dead he needed to find a way out of the facility so he could leave the planet, he had only hope that Ahsoka was close by to help him. But in the event that she was not he needed to find a ship on his own, figure out how to use the hyperdrive and the coordinates of the planet he had in mind, the only logical thing that came to him was the base's network array and data storage servers. Nonetheless he needed to leave the detention block before more guards arrived to investigate, on that note he runs out of there where he ends up in a network of narrow tunnels interconnected with one another and begins his search.

In a network tunnel not too far off, Ventress and the OOM droid commander were making their way to the base's CIC center when the alarms immediately sounded off alerting the other battle droids nearby and setting them to combat status.

Asajj turns to the commander and asks with a scowl "What's going on!?"

The droid takes a quick look at the pad it normally carries and reports "Uh it appears the prisoner has escaped . . ."

"What!?" Ventress asks bewildered, she then asks "Where is he going!?"

The commander responds "Unknown Mistress I'm seeing reports of blaster fire in multiple sectors with no clear indication of direction, however the prisoner is approaching Armory B-3."

The assassin quickly orders "Coordinate with the local units and tell them to deny that SPARTAN access to that armory, I don't care if they have to kill him at this point!"

"But Mistress, what about the information he has?"

"That information dies with him, as for the ship someone will eventually find it and that is when we strike."

The commander nodded "Roger Roger, coordinating with local units and sending them to Armory B-3."

Longarm was proceeding down through the tunnel network gunning down any battle droids that stood in his path while staying on the move, so far he's taken down two squads of droids that stood little chance against the SPARTAN's determination. He looks farther down the tunnel and finds an opening coming up soon and it was heavily guarded by B1s and B2s indicating a room of importance, he realizes a full frontal assault would prove too difficult and risky so he quickly activates his camouflage and vanishes from thin air.

A B1 battle droid standing guard near the armory hatch looked around seeing twelve droids, four of which are super battle droids, it then turned to a droid next to him and asks "Hey."

The B1 droid next to it asks "Yeah?"

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Eh I don't know . . . an honest—" at that moment blaster fire violently erupts inside the room they were all standing in and before the droids realized what was happening, six battle droids already laid on the ground with blast marks across their chest.

One super battle droid readies its wrist-mounted cannons asking in a deep voice "What was that!?" moments before the SPARTAN they were sent to stop materializes right in front of their optics.

At that moment the remaining droids took aim but Longarm was far quicker on the draw now dual wielding a pair of blasters and gunned down the remaining two B1s standing behind him before turning his attention to the four super battle droids that were still processing what had happened. Two of them were quick to react and began firing away with their repeating cannons sending red energy bolts in every direction trying to get a clear shot on the SPARTAN that simply refused to stop moving. He soon started to feel the effects of Spartan Time once more and time grinded to a near halt, laser bolts slowly passed around his moving body and his first target was acquired, a super battle droid that was utilizing both of its wrist mounted cannons putting out twice as much blaster fire. There was no clear way of approaching the droids on the ground but fortunately there were other ways for the SPARTAN to reach his targets, he discards the two blasters in his hands and moves to one side of the open room where he rushes for the other end where he uses his built up momentum and strength to run up the side of the wall for a brief time. Once he reached the top he exerted most of strength into his legs and launches himself from the wall sending him soaring through the air straight towards the droids that were having difficulties keeping on target, he then throws up his right shoulder and comes crashing down onto the center-most droid with his armored shoulder smashing into the droid's faceplate causing the droid to topple over. When Longarm lands on the ground he comes back up throwing a right fist catching the droid to his left in its side where its armor was comparatively thinner than the front, his fist slams into the metal chassis with the sheer augmented concussive force causing several internal components to break. The super battle droid behind him prepares to fires so the SPARTAN quickly responds with a devastating roundhouse kick to the droid's lower torso area, the blow threw the B2's balance and caused it to topple over backwards where it crashed into the fourth droid and took it down as well.

Longarm's time perception returned to real-time and he picks up a blaster before holstering it and making his way to the door where an interlocking mechanism was placed, he kneels down and breaks the covering off exposing the mechanical gears and wires before muttering "Alright what do we have . . ."

Despite being in a whole new galaxy and everything seeming so foreign to the SPARTAN, it didn't take him long to figure out that Republic electrical wiring and system management were not too far from being similar to that of the UNSC, then again this facility is heavily outdated, and splice several wires together causing the heavyweight shielded doors to activate and open revealing the goods inside. When he walks in he found himself in blaster Valhalla seeing standard issue blaster rifles, carbines, rotary cannons, rocket launchers, thermal detonators, riot shields equipped with shielding technology, and much much more. He started nodding to himself thinking '_Alright now things are getting good around here_' and started grabbing only the essential things he need to break out of the facility until he came across his own weapons that were confiscated from him. He grabs his combat knife returning it into its sheath and the DC-15S carbine but decides to leave the makeshift accelerator rifle knowing that where he was going he wasn't going to need it.

Once he had taken the weapons he needed to break free he walks out of the armory and finds a small handheld hologram projector lying on the floor with a blinking green light, he asks himself with a quiet voice "What's this?"

He picks it up and presses on the blinking button causing the holocrom to activate and display information regarding hyperspace drives, manuals on how to operate them, and a seismic scan of the base showing all the rooms and tunnels that would help him find a way out, he smiled muttering "Thank you Tano . . ." and stores it for safe keeping before moving on.

Ventress along with the droid commander waited at the final large open room before the main entrance, she knew that the SPARTAN would have to come through here if he ever wants to leave this place and that he had to fight for it. Fortunately she had a company of two hundred and fifty battle droids ready to fight alongside her, one hundred and eighty of them were B1 battle droids while sixty were B2s leaving the last ten to be BX commando droids.

The OOM commander droid reports "Mistress, reports show that the prisoner has reached the armory and is now making his way to the entrance. No doubt he will come through here."

"Good" Ventress said "He will fall before me like all those had done before, how much longer till he arrives?"

"My best estimate will be three minutes tops."

"Good, once he arrives this ends here."

They waited patiently for those three minutes until they started to hear gunfire in the hallway ahead of them, the commander tensed up a bit but Ventress remained calm and collected reminding herself that she needed all her power to overcome this dangerous and angered foe. The blaster fire drew closer and they could see faint glowing specs of red and blue travel back and forth before the shooting immediately ceases only for slow heavy footsteps to take its place. Each metallic step echoed through the tunnel into the large room where everyone stood ready, each step resonated and instilled fear into the droids that were supposed to not know fear but unfortunately they were routinely updated by the separatists for better combat effectiveness but that granted the individual droid emotions.

Minutes later and a figure slowly came into the light of the room, black metallic feet and legs soon followed with a chest and arms carrying a rotary blaster cannon beneath the waist, and lastly the dark helmet that always seemed to bring fear and dread with its black soulless visor.

The SPARTAN stood before the entire company of droids and Ventress and roars out with confidence "Who wants to pray to god!?"

Ventress smirked seemingly amused by Longarm's attempt and said "You won't be getting out of here alive you realize that?"

He responds "Oh yeah, in fact there's three ways this is going to play out. The first is what you pretty much dead, I die and everything goes back to normal for this galaxy but not before I shove my fist down your throat. Second is that you all stand down and let me pass, no one gets hurt, but where's the fun in that right? Third, we can have ourselves a little party and make things fun for all of us, and I walk away with my head held high like nothing ever happened. So what's it going to be Ventress?"

Asajj had already made her mind up long ago, she draws her lightsabers and activates them showing the two glowing red blades itching for a fight, Longarm grins as he says "Alright, me first . . ." and takes aim with the rotary blaster cannon.

The OOM command droid finally gives the order "ATTACK!" resulting in the entire company to march and the SPARTAN began firing away sending a storm of blue bolts in every direction knocking down droids at a rapid pace seconds before they began to return fire.

Longarm ducked and weaved through incoming blaster fire while at the same time firing off bursts of lasers bolts taking down as many as he could as fast as he could but the droids were slowly pressing the advance and if he stayed in this position for too long then he will be overwhelmed. He lets out a another burst of fire taking six droids down afterwards and quickly sticks a thermal detonator onto the bottom of his blaster cannon before firing off one last burst and then hurl the rotary cannon towards the droids. While the weapon was still hurtling through the air, the SPARTAN then draws his clone carbine and an outdated republic repeating blaster and began gunning down droids with rapid succession until the cannon landed in the middle of a cluster of approximately fourteen droids where it detonated remotely destroying all those around it. The explosion cued the SPARTAN to start his assault and charged head first into the fray blasting down droids left and right while avoiding enemy fire through the use of impressive acrobatics, Ventress started to grow frustrated seeing how Longarm was tearing her droids apart and he isn't even out of breath and yet it surprised her. Two days ago in the simulation bay he destroyed eighty four battle droids singlehandedly and now here he is decimating a company of droids, what was driving him to fight harder than ever before? Time began to slow around her as she watched the angered SPARTAN in slow motion discard his repeating carbine and holster his clone blaster before pulling out his combat knife in a reverse grip and another combat blade of republic origin and slowly tear her droids apart with such ferocity but yet with such grace. She watched his body movement seeing it move so smoothly like an artist calm and gentle, that's when it struck her. Ahsoka mentioned that Longarm had been fighting a war for twenty five years so how else could he be so skilled in combat, those seemingly endless years of war with the Covenant made this man become the ultimate weapon, a killer with little emotion for his enemies whatsoever. She watches the SPARTAN drive his titanium blade deep into the face plate of a super battle droid destroying the components inside before retrieving the blade and stare into her eyes through his dark visor, this sent a shiver of fear through her making her finally realize that she had made a grave mistake of taking on such a dangerous beast of a soldier. The SPARTAN-ll started to run with both blades ready to cut and tear straight towards Asajj regardless of the standing droids that tried their best to shoot him, time catches up with her and Longarm was closing the gap extremely fast with the sheer intent of finishing this one way or another.

Ventress throws up her blades in preparation of the inevitable attack just mere seconds before the SPARTAN lunges at her with his right handed blade in full swing. He passes by her missing her as she quickly steps out of the way but was too late to avoid the titanium-carbide blade making a cut across her cheek and come back swinging her blade high in order to decapitate him, but he anticipated this and immediately ducks before dropping low and swing his left leg in a 360 spin where he catches the assassin knocking her off her feet. She slams onto the ground on her back just as he gets back up and prepares for the killing blow but a pair of commando droids came to her aid and engaged the SPARTAN with their sharpened standard issued swords accompanied by whatever few droids that were still fighting to some capacity. Ventress took this time to quickly get back up before she watched those same droids that came to save her get torn and ripped apart by the SPARTAN-ll with relative ease.

Asajj felt the sheer hatred swelling up in the black soldier as he begins to approach her at a brisk pace, the hatred and determination he held within him inspired a whole new level of fear making her realize that this monster was going to be relentless in his attempts, she states with anger and a hint of fear "You're no mere mortal! The hatred within you is unlike any I've ever seen, how!?"

The SPARTAN continued his approach stating "Funny thing about that . . ." until he came within arm's reach and threw a fast right fist straight into her stomach, the impact of the force caused the assassin to vomit for the briefest moment before she fell limp onto the ground where she then looked up to see him standing over her.

He places his right foot on top of her chest and applied pressure to ensure she couldn't escape, he bends over where his intimidating helmet was hanging over her head and says "I am very much mortal, but the thing is that I have been fighting a war ever since I was a little boy. You've just made the worst decision of your life to fuck with a SPARTAN and you'll pay the price for it."

He stands back up tall and applies even more pressure onto her chest with his boot making the assassin cringe and grimace in pain, he then asks "You know what the Covenant calls us SPARTANs?" he takes out his DC-15S blaster and aims the barrel directly at her face and finally says "They call us demons for a reason . . ."

His finger began to squeeze on the trigger but suddenly a shot rang out and struck the SPARTAN in the back making him stumble forward off of Ventress who was relieved to get air back into her lungs. He turns around to see fresh droid reinforcements flooding out of the tunnel he came from all charging and firing away, he wanted to stay and kill Ventress for what she's done to him so far but he also realizes that this was not the time and place to do it anymore knowing that he was needed elsewhere. He returns fire sending several blue bolts of energy back at the oncoming battle droids before turning tail and run for the facility's landing pad where he'll take a ship and get as far from here as possible.

Asajj was starting to slowly get back up feeling the bleeding cut on her cheek from his knife when a battle droid asks "Mistress are you alright? Shall we pursue the prisoner?"

She answers "No, we lost enough troops today. Prepare our ship for launch, if we can't beat him on the ground then we'll follow him and destroy him in his ship."

The droid acknowledged "Roger Roger" before heading off to perform its task.

Asajj looked around her seeing her entire company of droids essentially devastated with very few survivors, this was clearly a lesson to her and a lesson she would not forget.

Longarm finally reaches the landing pad outside under the night sky and found only one ship available to him, a Utapaun Porax-38 Starfighter that are commonly seen being used by separatist magnaguards and wealthy private owners. This large dark grey fighter craft featured dual heavy engine blocks that were capable of independent hyperspace jumps on both wings with a centralized fuselage with a cockpit up front with a dome-like glass viewport and two fire-linked blaster cannons. The SPARTAN rushes over and enters the open cockpit where he then pressed several buttons to close up the hatch and start the engines up.

He pulls out the holocrom he find on the ground earlier and starts looking through the information it had muttering "Alright c'mon c'mon how do I fly this thing . . ."

The details contained within the device was only regarded to the hyperspace drive so he sighs in frustration and began pressing several buttons seeing what would happen, he eventually flips a switch on his left and push forward what appeared to be the throttle lever to his right before suddenly feeling the entire craft jerk forward and shake as it begins to lift itself off the ground.

The SPARTAN laughed "Haha! Alright now we're talking!" before grabbing hold of the center pilot steering handle that featured two handles with triggers set on an axle that turns much like a steering wheel in a car.

Fortunately he had participated in the UNSC's SABRE program to know how to pilot and fight in most space capable craft, he pushes the throttle to full power and pulls back on the steering handles guiding the craft up into the planet's atmosphere and eventually into orbit where he comes to his final challenge, find the coordinates of his desired destination and initiate the hyperspace drive. He finds the fighter's nav-computer and found it already loaded with coordinates of nearly every known system in the galaxy which was pretty common among all ships of any class or affiliation, he took some time sifting through each planet taking careful looks at each one until he finally found the one he was looking for. The planet is considered unpopulated in terms of civilization but it is still inhabited by sparse villages with limited capabilities, the planet was located in the Suolriep Sector at grid coordinates J-18 in the Outer Rim Territories, the backwater planet was known as Saleucami.

The SPARTAN started talking to himself "Alright let's get back home, entering grid coordinates J-18 and initiating hyperspace . . . let's hope this damn works."

He enters the coordinates and pushes a different lever forward which caused the hyperdrive to activate seconds after the ship's sensors detected a unknown signature on scopes, he didn't have time to investigate as the stars around him turned into lines and the ship launched itself into hyperspace.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	9. UNSC Vanguard

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 9**

"**UNSC Vanguard"**

[In orbit over Dantooine]

Ahsoka Tano was aboard the Gozanti-class cruiser Master Obi-wan Kenobi had given her back on Toydaria when her scanners picked up the signature of an unaffiliated starfighter making a break for open space. The Togruta herself was nearly falling asleep after staying up for the last several hours when the sensors pinged the signature. She sat up in her chair and wiped away the drool that had seeped from her mouth before tending to the instruments and got a lock on the runaway fighter, knowing the ship was going to make a jump at any second she was quick to start tracking the jump when the fighter when it leaves. The next instant the fighter disappeared from her scopes signifying that the ship had just jumped; it was only moments later when her instruments determined the ship's destination.

"Saleucami?" she mutters wondering what could be all the way out there on a backwater planet.

Nonetheless she managed to reach out with the force and felt that familiar sense of anger and distrust, no doubt it was Longarm, she mutters to herself "That's weird; I thought he didn't know how to activate the hyperdrive . . ."

Despite this she sets in the coordinates and activates the ship's hyperdrive sending the ship into hyperspace on route to Saleucami to find out why the SPARTAN would jump there. A few minutes after the jump Ahsoka began to receive an incoming transmission from the Jedi cruiser _Vigilance_, Obi-wan's new flagship after the loss of his old cruiser, the _Negotiator_, she opens the communication channels and shortly afterwards Kenobi himself appeared on hologram maintaining that respectable posture of his, standing tall with his hands folded behind his back and a face full of curiosity and pleasure.

Tano smiled "Greetings Kenobi, I didn't expect a call from you like this."

He returns a grin "Yes well things are looking good for the people of Toydaria, they were lucky to have you and your 'Longarm' fellow. Speaking of which how is he? Or have you part ways?"

She was very well tempted to tell him everything she knew about the SPARTAN and what she was doing as of right now but she felt that the time wasn't quite right just yet, she answers "He's doing well, right now he's getting some needed rest."

"Hmm well then I hope you won't mind to tell him that we might have a job offer for him."

"What kind of job?" Tano asks with sincere curiosity.

The Jedi general explains "The Republic is planning to take a massive ship building complex located in the null sector, no doubt the separatists will have that heavily guarded seeing that it mainly produces their Recusant destroyers. We would like for him to join us in hopes of taking the shipyard with fewer losses."

"You want to bring a mercenary into a military operation?"

"I know it sounds unorthodox but if it helps save lives . . ."

Ahsoka was silent for a moment thinking about this offer and says "I understand, I'll tell him about the offer but when is this taking place?"

"Before the end of this week."

"If he says yes then we'll be there but it's probably best to be prepared in the event he says no."

"Thank you Ahsoka . . . Kenobi out."

The hologram dissipates and silence filled the air once more. She let out a sigh as her mind raced thinking about what she'll find on Saleucami and if Ventress was following them as well, she thought about the event that Longarm may have jumped randomly to evade Ventress but something in her mind didn't set right with that possibility. She shifted her attention from Saleucami and onto the SPARTAN himself, Longarm always seemed focused and determined in what he does so there was no doubt Saleucami held some significant importance but what could it be to a SPARTAN lost in a galaxy he doesn't know, and then it came to her.

"Of course . . ." Ahsoka muttered to herself before speaking out loud "The ship, he's heading back to his ship!"

After that realization she also began to realize that the trip from Dantooine to Saleucami would take a few hours to make so she sets the ship's auto-pilot on and starts making her way back to her quarters in order to finally get some sleep she actually needed. She leaves the cockpit and slowly made her way through the quiet ship and after a moment she began to miss the SPARTAN's company for once despite knowing him for a short time, yes she could of done so without Longarm slamming her against the wall for not telling him about Ventress sooner but she placed the fault on herself. She started to pass the door that led into his room and decided to go inside and simply look around, when she came in the first thing she saw was Longarm's electro-staff she gave him back on Toydaria simply laying on the small desk. The young togruta stepped forward and picked it up seeing the different and new modifications the SPARTAN had made to it making it lighter but still just as durable as before. She sets the staff back down before looking around until her eyes stopped on something laying on the bed, she steps over and sits down on the bed picking up what seemed to be a photograph made out of some sort of laminated paper. The photograph itself had seen better days showing wears, tears, and even small burns but the picture was still very well clear enough for her to see what it was, James standing tall and proud in his armor with a scoped long barreled rifle next to a much taller SPARTAN armed with what looked like a heavy machine gun with an ammunition belt connected to a large box on his back, the man was wearing bulkier armor with a yellow chest plate, olive drab arms and legs, large bulky shoulder pads painted in olive drab and red, and an olive drab helmet with a large exposed orange visor unlike Longarm's narrow black slit visor. From the looks of it it seemed like these two super soldiers were pretty close friends or maybe even brothers but Ahsoka wasn't too sure about that and would have to ask Longarm about it, but as she looked at the picture of the two SPARTANs it occurred to her that this was the first time she seen Longarm truly happy. She tucks the photo away in one of her pouches along her waist and lies down in the SPARTAN's bed where she closed her eyes and fell asleep for the next few hours.

After several hours of peaceful sleep Ahsoka Tano woke up and sat up where she stretches her arms and legs, this was the first time she ever slept in days since first meeting Longarm in her apartment back on Coruscant, and gets up before walking out of the sleeping quarters making her way back to the ship's cockpit. When she finally came through the door she looked out the viewport and found the planet Saleucami down below before taking her seat and getting to work tracing the signature of the fighter that had fled from Dantooine. She figured since the system was partly colonized it wouldn't take long for the ship's scanners to pick up the ship and lock onto it, her assumption was correct as moments later the scanners picked up the familiar unaffiliated signature of the Porax-38 starfighter. It appeared to have landed in one of the more unexplored regions of the planet out in the open plains where the nearest village was roughly eighty two kilometers away but what she found odd was that close by there was a much larger energy signature of unknown origin, no doubt Longarm's ship, and she estimated it had to be a cruiser of some sort judging from the size of it.

She takes the auto-pilot off and manually takes control of the ship setting up a proper flight course to the surface and investigate the signature muttering to herself "Hang on Longarm . . ."

Time passed and Ahsoka's Gozanti cruiser was traveling along the surface currently four kilometers away from the unknown ship, her scanners had already picked up a large mass on scopes which made her become nervous and anxious as she drew closer to the site. A small mountain range was coming up but she simply piloted the ship to head up over it and that's when she saw it.

"Whoa . . ." she quietly said in awe.

Located on the open ground was a massive black angular warship with heavy armor plating ranging at four hundred and eighty five meters from stern to bow lying on the ground after an attempted crash landing, from the air she could make out that the ship was still largely intact and that it was definitely armed with point defense turrets housing two individual guns, numerous pods containing missiles, and two massive protrusions sticking out at front with one stacked up on the other. She also noticed the ship had four 'fins' located at the back of the ship possibly for stability, a structure sticking out of the dorsal section of the ship which she guessed was the bridge, but the most obvious feature was that from the bow to mid-section on both sides was these two utterly massive sloped plates of metal supposedly to act as heavy armor and on each of those plates were letters written out in bold white:

**UNSC DDH-151 Vanguard**

"The _Vanguard_ . . ." Ahsoka said with astonishment.

It was shortly after that when she found a Porax-38 starfighter parked on the ground close by which prompted her to bring the ship down and land not too far from the _Vanguard_ that dwarfed the Gozanti nearly four times its size. When she landed and walked off the loading ramp she was surprised to see all the details and engineering placed behind this beautiful vessel and started making her way towards the hull to see if she could find an airlock or some other way inside. When she reached the outer hull she was so tempted to touch the metal, she briefly ran her hand across the cold black metal and felt the ruggedness of each bit which depicted an engagement from long ago but there was no clear sign of damage across it. She soon finds a closed airlock ahead of her towards the bow and makes her way to it where she wondered on how to get in, at first she simply thought about knocking but she disregarded it, she could call out to Longarm inside but who would hear that from inside a warship? She started to run out of ideas until the door itself simply opened up, at first she jumped back waiting for someone to come out attacking but nothing came, she was starting to feel uneasy about the fact that the door had simply opened for her as if something inside wanted her to come in.

"I got a bad feeling about this . . ." she mutters to herself before walking through the airlock into the ship's network of hallways and bulkhead doors.

The airlock closed behind her and everything became dark quickly, fortunately she remedied that by activating one of her lightsabers but it was seconds later when the hallway lights came on illuminating the long empty corridors. She was beginning to get the feeling that someone was aware of her presence here and proceeded with caution after deactivating her saber but not holstering it.

She calls out "Hello!? Anybody here!?" but there was no response save for her short lived echo that didn't travel very far.

She continued venturing through the ship finding every corridor to be void of life until she passed a set of doors where the one to her left suddenly lights up and opens with a hiss of air, she looked inside to find nothing and thought it probably would be wise to go through even if this was going to be a setup. When she passed through the doorway the hatch closed behind her and locked itself denying her a chance to turn back and force her to keep on walking towards wherever this mysterious watcher was leading her to. After a while of walking and silence she began to hear a familiar voice mixed in with something burning like a plasma cutter burning into metal, she readies her other lightsaber hilt without activating them as she soon starts to approach an 'T' shaped intersection. The cutting sound grew louder and louder until she finally came to a corner and peeked around it to see Longarm cutting away at a wall panel in order to get inside where all the cables and other system circuitry was located, she didn't want to make any sounds as to alert the SPARTAN to her intrusion in his ship.

Then out of the blue without looking Longarm asks "Hey Tano, mind bringing me that line coupler in the toolbox behind me?"

Ahsoka hesitated to answer but if he knew she was there then what's the point, she holsters her sabers and walks out asking "How did you know I was here? You didn't even look at me."

She started walking towards the toolbox he mentioned when he said "I didn't have to look to know you were there, Percival alerted me the moment you jumped into the system and I told him to hold fire when you were on approach."

Tano was already looking inside the box when she looks up and asks "Percival? Who's that?"

The SPARTAN calls out "Percival! Come on out she won't bite."

A voice with a light British accent then echoes from the ship's intercom systems "UNSC AI serial number (PRC 5281-0) 'Percival' at your service."

The togruta stood up from the toolbox looking up around the ceiling searching for where the voice came from and asks "An AI?"

Longarm answered as he tries to effect repairs "Stands for Artificial Intelligence, sort of like droids but much more faster in thinking."

Percival explains "Yes, I am a sixth generation AI created by the UNSC to operate combat vessels in the war against the Covenant."

"So you're essentially the ship right?" Ahsoka asks with the upmost curiosity.

"In your perspective you are correct, I operate all functions of the ship with human aid, though recent events had deprived me of that aid."

That prompted her to ask the SPARTAN "What happened to the crew? I haven't seen anyone else here."

"Dead . . . most died during our long period of drifting through space, then more followed during the crash and later on. I'm the last one left."

"What happened?"

The SPARTAN sighed thinking about what started all of this, why they were here now, and he answered "Several years ago before the start of your Clone Wars, the _Vanguard_ was stationed over the UEG colony world shortly before a Covenant scouting party arrived in system. We were the only ones close enough to respond and engage but when we made contact everything went to hell quickly, the _Vanguard_ took down a corvette pretty easily but we were taking hits left and right until something happened."

Percival adds "Our sensors detected an energy spike occurring off our port bow at several hundred kilometers and overloaded all slipspace drives within the vicinity. The covenant fleet was destroyed but somehow we survived. We so far only have one theory as to why."

Tano asks "What is it?"

Longarm answered "Well our only guess as to why the Covenant was destroyed was because their FTL drives were much more finely tuned compared to us humans', we suspected their engines couldn't handle whatever hit them and overloaded. Our drive was somewhat more adaptable than theirs seeing that we still had flaws and vague ideas about the principle of slipstream space. Anyways whatever caused that energy spike initiated our drive and jumped us far out of our own galaxy, we've been drifting ever since a few years ago until we came here."

"Ok before we go on, what's this slipstream space?" the former Jedi asks trying to gain an understanding about what they're talking about.

The SPARTAN simply states "Basically where you have hyperspace, we have slipstream space. It's our method of faster than light travel."

She kneels back down by the toolbox and grabbed what she assumed was the line coupler Longarm requested "Alright . . . that explains how you got here and I guess you've been here repairing it ever since the crash right?"

She then hands the tool over to Longarm who answered "That's right, for five years. We're almost finished too."

"Then what were you doing on Coruscant?"

Percival had to ask "You certainly have many questions don't you?"

Longarm states "She has every right to ask those questions Percival, the last few weeks for me were pretty weird" he then answers "Several weeks ago I was up top repairing one of _Vanguard's_ point defense turrets when Percival picked up movement not too far from the ship. I headed out to investigate, turns out they were smugglers making a delivery to their client and that's when they spotted me, shots were fired and they incapacitated me with a blaster set to stun. The next thing I knew I was stuck inside a cell on my way to Coruscant, when they landed I broke out and gave them the slip."

He finally repairs the component and begins wielding the wall panel back into place when Ahsoka asks with a raised eyebrow "And they didn't bother chasing you down? You're not that hard to miss."

The SPARTAN stopped for a brief moment and looked at her before saying "Um I think you misunderstood me on that last part, when I said I gave them the slip, I actually meant I killed them all with my bare hands and left their ship burning."

The AI states "You were never one to be subtle."

"No I am not . . ." Longarm states as he finishes up wielding the wall panel together, once that was finished he asks "Alright how is it now Percival?"

"Turret tracking speed and MAC charge up rate has increased by seventeen percent."

"Good"

The SPARTAN began packing everything back into the toolbox when Ahsoka asks "Alright with introduction and background stories out of the way, when do you expect this ship to launch?"

"Tomorrow" the AI answers quickly with no hesitation.

"Really? Tomorrow?"

"Correct, of course after I have completed simulations and systems check on all aspects of the ship."

Longarm states "So in the meantime we got time to do something, maybe a tour of the ship."

"Actually I had something else in mind" Tano says with a small grin on her face which seemed to have unsettled the SPARTAN.

"What do you mean?" Longarm asks with a worried tone.

"Remember when you said you promised me you'll show how to work one of your rifles and maybe even teach me how to sharpshoot?"

"Yes I remember that, but aren't Jedi meant to get up close and personal with their opponents?"

"Well yes but a Jedi aren't afraid to have a little variety in what they have available to them, and you forget I'm no longer part of the order."

"True, alright come with me while I go put this box away then we'll head over to the ship's armory and get ready."

Percival states "Very well, I will assume my standard operations and wait for your return."

Ahsoka replies with a smile "Thanks Percy, c'mon big guy let's get going."

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	10. Sharpshooting 101

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 10**

"**Sharpshooting 101"**

[Saleucami, _UNSC Vanguard_]

Aboard the Halberd-class Heavy Destroyer _Vanguard,_ deck seventeen, Tano was following the SPARTAN through the empty corridors as they make their way to one of the ship's armory where they'll take the equipment they need and make their way outside the destroyer and find something to shoot.

They were in the middle of talking about ship classes when she asks "So this isn't the largest class the UNSC has?"

Percival answers "No but it is very effective for its size, the largest ship the UNSC currently possesses would be the UNSC Cradle, a mobile repair/refit station that measured at little over thirteen kilometers."

"Thirteen kilometers!? That's a huge ship" she said with newfound respect for the UNSC's engineering capabilities to create such a large ship.

Longarm comments "My personal favorite is the Halcyon-class Light Cruiser, they may not have much bite but they can sure as hell take a beating."

They reached a large reinforced bulkhead door with a keypad next to it, Ahsoka watched him input the security code and the door hissed releasing pressurized air and opening revealing an entire stockpile of rifles, pistols, machine guns of varying calibers, and explosive ordnance.

She complements the SPARTAN "Nice set of weapons you have here, enough to arm a large militia."

Longarm nods "Yep, we got MA37s, M395 DMRs, the infamous M247 machine guns, and even the deadly M41 rocket launcher."

"Cool so what're we using?" she asks as she takes a closer look at a set of BR55 battle rifles.

The SPARTAN made his way to a rack set up against the back wall containing a line of silver long barreled rifles saying "This."

Ahsoka turned her attention to Longarm and found him holding the same kind of rifle she saw in the picture she found, she had to ask "A sniper rifle?"

Longarm chuckled "Hmph this isn't no ordinary rifle, this is the SRS99D Anti-Materiel rifle system. It weighs fourteen kilograms and chambers the 14.5 x 114mm armor piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding sabot round that can pierce the frontal armor of a tank and other vehicles. Some say it can take the hat off a target at two thousand yards which is true depending on who's behind the rifle. It is designed in the conventional layout, so the magazine and operating system are located in front of the trigger. Fitted with a 5x and 10x optical scope it can show real time images in infrared vision when not looking through it. When looking through it, the scope shows a target's distance and elevation from the shooter's position. The weapon also utilizes a frame that serves as a carrying handle as well as a scope protector and a folding bipod located in front of the magazine on the underside of the rifle."

"So this is your weapon of choice . . . no doubt you're undisputed when it comes to long range combat."

"I may not be good in close quarters as I am at long range, but god help you if you stay in my line of sight for more than three seconds."

The young togruta looked at the SPARTAN for a second in disbelief and took his word for it, if he was able to hold his own against Grievous in hand to hand combat and take on a small army of droids then there was no doubt that he would dominate a battlefield singlehandedly with his rifle, she asks "So we're sharing?"

Longarm shook his head "No" he turns around and picks up another rifle holding it out to her "You get your own."

She held out her hands and took the rifle, the weight caught her off balance but she was able to hold it in her hands and feel the engineering put into it, she then looked up to the SPARTAN to see him grabbing a small box containing ammunition and shoulder the rifle with its sling before he said "Let's get going."

She shoulders the rifle just like he did and follow him out the armory, as they make their way to one of the exits she asks "So how old are you?"

Longarm glanced down at her before answering "I'm forty two."

"Oh . . ." Tano replies with an unenthusiastic tone.

But Longarm states "But if we were to exclude my time in cryogenic stasis, I'm twenty one."

"Wow really? You're twenty one? Your voice makes it sound like you're older than that."

"That's what augmentations will do to you."

"Well you're not that older than I am."

The SPARTAN could only guess how old her species could get, because in Sangheili terms forty two is still considered young, he had to ask out of curiosity "Really? How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen."

"Huh . . ." he says with intrigue at first not believing her age.

Ahsoka looks up at him as they continue walking and ask "You thought I was younger didn't you?"

"What? No I didn't . . ."

She steps up in front of the SPARTAN and stops him before pointing her finger up at him "You were thinking it weren't you?"

"Honestly it never came up in my mind, I was too busy not trying to get killed during the last few days."

She steps out of the way and they resume walking down the corridor nearing an airlock when she says "Alright . . . so why are you placed in cryogenic stasis for so long?"

"Like I said our FTL isn't the greatest, we can only cover about three light years a day. So I spend most of my time in stasis as it takes weeks and even months to reach another planet."

"Wow that's extremely slow, we can be on the other side of the galaxy in days. You know if you want we can have Obi-wan give us some credits to have someone switch out your FTL drives."

At that very moment both Percival and Longarm stopped what they were doing and yelled out in objection "NO!"

Tano jumped in fright "What!? What did I say!?"

Longarm explains "You can't just _switch out_ FTL drives, especially a slipspace drive, that's suicide on a massive scale!"

"Why not?" she asks not understanding the matter with FTL drives.

Percival explains with more clarity "A Shaw-Fukijawa Slipspace drive is an extremely fragile piece of equipment, if we allowed your people to even try and remove the drive it'll send everything within a two and a half mile radius into oblivion, literally."

"So not only is your drive slow as a rancor it's a doomsday weapon as well if not handled correctly."

Longarm gave a silent repetitive nod, she realizes that if these two were afraid of something like this then it was probably best to just leave it be, she said "Alright . . . no switching out FTL drives . . ."

Both the SPARTAN and AI sighed in relief saying "Thank you . . ." and Longarm states afterwards "Airlock is just up ahead."

The two resumed walking up to the airlock where Percival kindly opens the door for them and let them into the depressurization room, the door closed behind them and the room hissed as the air pressure changes from inside the ship to the outside atmosphere, the second door then opened and the two walked out into the evening daylight on the grasslands that surrounded the downed destroyer.

Ahsoka breathed in the fresh air and said "Well if there's one thing our two galaxies both share, is that our ships still have that stale recycled air."

Longarm chuckled "I agree . . . there's a ridge about two kilometers east of here. Hope you don't mind hoofing it a little."

"Alright let's get going" the togruta said with a grin and began walking first with the SPARTAN catching up.

The two walked across the open plains putting distance between themselves and the _Vanguard_ as they looked around the landscape and took in the sights as they progressed to the ridge Longarm mentioned. The two unlikely friends were silent letting the sounds of Saleucami take over, nearby animals called to one another as they traveled in herds grazing along the hillsides, Ahsoka seemed to enjoy the silence and peace but it seemed to her that the SPARTAN-ll super soldier that had seen twenty five long years of war and could probably think of more ways to kill a person than anyone could imagine, was actually enjoying it more. She watched him as he couldn't take his eyes off the herd until they retreated behind a hill to graze elsewhere and he looked elsewhere, and for once she actually sensed the pent up anger and frustration slowly dissipate from inside him as if the scenery is somewhat putting him at rest.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" she asks him as they continue walking.

"Yeah it is . . . the ridge is just up ahead" he responded calmly.

The two continued walking onwards until they reached their destination, a small ridge overlooking a vast grassland that could be seen for tens of miles, and started unloading their equipment. Ahsoka found a small rock to sit on while Longarm took his spot on the dirt setting the box of ammunition down next to himself.

He then holds out his rifle as a demonstration "Alright first thing we're going to do is familiarize ourselves with the SRS99 rifle system, though you're already familiar with some of the components, we're going over the five major parts of a rifle" he then moves his hands to the corresponding part stating "Trigger. Scope. Box magazine. Safety switch. Charging handle."

Tano takes her rifle into her hands and examined the parts the SPARTAN stated, she was familiar with trigger, safety, and scope but the other two were new to her which was expected of UNSC weaponry. Nonetheless she understood what they were called and waited for his next set of instructions.

"Ok with that out of the way we're going to go ahead and load the rifle, pull your charging handle back into locked position and pull the magazine from underneath" he says as he does so pulling the bolt back and taking the magazine out.

She follows suit and pulls the bolt back until it made a loud click, which was harder than she initially thought at first, and slid the magazine out of the rifle, Longarm then sets his rifle aside on the ground with the magazine still in his hand as he brings out the ammunition box and opens it revealing twenty four 14.5mm anti-materiel rounds, he then instructs "Set the rifle aside and take your magazine, take four rounds from the box and slide them into the magazine one after another like so" as he inserts each individual bullet into the four round box magazine.

Ahsoka does as told and begins loading the rounds into her magazine with each round making a light click as each round is pushed downwards to make room for the next one, once all four rounds were inside she looks up to see the SPARTAN picking up his rifle and insert the magazine back into the underside. Realizing he wasn't giving instructions anymore she follows his example and inserts the box magazine back into her rifle which then the bolt swung forward making a loud click signaling that the clip was locked in place and the first round was loaded into the chamber.

"Good" Longarm states with appreciation "Now the fun part, go ahead and lay on the ground in firing position."

Tano does so laying on her stomach while firmly resting the stock of the rifle against her right shoulder as she holds onto the trigger grip with her right hand and her left hand up at the foregrip, she watches the SPARTAN enter the same position and look through his scope commenting "Alright let's if we can find you a target, go ahead and look through your scope and see if you can find something. There's a notch on top of the scope that'll adjust the zoom on the optics."

"Alright . . ." Ahsoka replies before looking through the scope and scan the distant plains, she decides to fiddle with the notch he mentioned and watched the screen in front of her zoom in further where she then notices a small boulder sticking out of the tall grass, "Hey there's a rock out there, think that's good enough for target practice?" she asks.

Longarm asks "How far out?" as he searches for the rock through his scope.

She looked at the bottom of her screen but she couldn't understand the numerical symbols Longarm's kind used, she said "I don't know . . . I still don't understand some of your kind's writing."

The SPARTAN took a moment then said "Oh wait I think I see it, that's about fifteen hundred meters away. Alright we can start with that, is your reticle on target?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Alright . . . take a few deep breaths and when you're ready . . . gently squeeze the trigger."

Ahsoka asks "What? No tips or anything from the professional SPARTAN sniper?"

"I believe in hands on experience, just do what I say and I'll make sure you'll be fine. You're doing well so far. But if want a sniper's saying then hear this, sniper's take their time to make sure they won't miss on the first shot but they don't waste their time either because they'll never when the situation will change."

Ahsoka understood what he meant, snipers take their time to ascertain the situation and acquire the right target but they don't want to waste any time in case something unexpected comes up in which it normally does.

"Alright . . ." the young togruta finally says before falling silent and focusing on the rock through the scope.

Her light blue reticle was centered on the boulder and she took several deep breaths before relaxing and gently apply pressure on the trigger, the next moment the rifle violently jerks backwards against her shoulder as it is accompanied by a loud deafening roar of a rifle shot echoing out into the distance. She felt the raw power of the UNSC's might first hand as the dirt around her kicked up and formed a brief haze before settling again, once everything cleared and the ringing in her ears ceased, she found a large empty metal casing lying next to her with smoke slowly trailing out of it.

"Whoa . . ." Tano said with awe.

Longarm chuckled "Like that huh? Check out the rock."

Ahsoka looked back into the scope and took herself another moment to find the rock again until she found it, or what's left of it. The top half of the rock was utterly shattered to pieces from the devastating impact of the anti-materiel round there was nothing left but a faint vapor trail that originated from the end of the barrel and ended where the rock used to be.

"I did that?" she asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, no matter who you are, this rifle will definitely ruin your day."

She settles the rifle down flipping the safety on and looks over to the SPARTAN who was searching another target through his scope when she asks "How good of a sniper are you?"

The SPARTAN takes his eyes away from the scope and looked into her eyes asking "What kind of question is that?"

"An honest one . . ."

"Alright . . ." Longarm says as he gets up from prone position and states "How about I show you, it's no fun just to explain things."

"Ok how do you want to do this? I point something out and you shoot?"

The SPARTAN-ll chuckled saying "Haha I hope that was an insult, no see that rock behind you?"

Tano turns around to see a small rock roughly the size of a training droid used to help young Jedi hone their skills with a lightsaber, there were three other rocks of similar size, she walks over and picks one up and says "You want me to throw them and you shoot them out of the air."

Longarm nods saying "Make it a good one."

"Alright big guy, let's make this more interesting with a bet. If you manage to shoot all four rocks out of the air then you'll get a hundred credits easy. But if you miss one shot then you earn nothing and I get the pleasure to know that I have seen one of the UNSC's greatest snipers fail to hit their target."

The SPARTAN said with a smirk "Alright you're on" and assumes position with his rifle at the ready.

Ahsoka gave one quick casual toss throwing the rock up and down back into her hand before she readies herself and hurls the rock out into the distance, it took a split moment for the SPARTAN to take aim and fire a shot sending the round straight into the tumbling rock and utterly obliterated it before it even reached ten meters.

He turns back around saying with a laugh "I said make it a good one!"

The young former Jedi picks up another rock and hurls it into the air before he even got into firing position, nonetheless he was quick to react and shot the rock down with ease before it could've hit the ground. She had to admit that his shooting skills were undeniably deadly beyond any measure and she was sure glad that she wasn't his enemy but the bet wasn't quite over yet since he still had to make two more shots. She readies the third rock and decides to change it up a bit, instead of throwing it out towards the open plains, she hurls the rock upwards high above the two thinking he wouldn't have enough time to react but he quickly proved her wrong as he twists himself around and aim directly up firing his third shot, it was merely seconds later when a small shower of tiny rock fragments came down on them.

"Alright hotshot, last rock" Ahsoka said as she picks up the fourth rock.

She heard the SPARTAN chuckle which prompted her to change her strategy entirely, she watches Longarm assume position before she hurls the rock. As the rock hurtle through the air she watched him take aim but before he could've pulled the trigger she used the Force and quickly changed the rock's trajectory just as the fourth round was fired. As expected the round missed and zipped passed harmlessly, Longarm watched in disbelief at how the rock could've changed course until it landed on the ground and he figured it out.

"You did that on purpose didn't you?" he asks as he looks back at Tano.

"Maybe" she replied with a face with an innocent grin.

The two chuckled for the moment before Longarm sat down against a rock and started loading more rounds into his box magazine while Ahsoka got behind her rifle again and begun searching for another target to shoot and help her get better. She eventually found another boulder, though smaller and much farther out than the first, and lined up her shot before pulling the trigger sending another high velocity round downrange. The ground beneath her body shook under the immense power of an anti-materiel rifle and the dirt kicked up once more around her, through her scope she could see the boulder blow apart as the round impacts the surface with sheer force. Despite the sheer ferocity of the rifle and its purposes, she began to actually relax ever since she left the Jedi temple, she looked over her shoulder and found the SPARTAN loading another magazine with rounds and thought that moments like these are a must because during a time of war things aren't as calm as they were before. She turns her head back into the scope and begun searching for another target when she found something unusual.

She asks out loud "Hey Longarm, I see a ship out there, you think there's someone coming by to check out the _Vanguard_?"

The SPARTAN-ll looked up and brought up his rifle scope, it took him a moment before he found the same ship Tano was asking about and got onto his comms contacting Percival aboard the _Vanguard_ "Sierra-121 to _Vanguard _over?"

"Yes SPARTAN go ahead" Percival responds.

"We got visual on a corvette class vessel about two kilometers north northeast of our AO, are you picking up anything in that sector?"

The AI took a moment to scan the area with the destroyer's sensors and reports "Negative, they must have jammers active."

Ahsoka comments after further examination "It looks like a Republic ship . . . Consular-class."

"Republic?" Longarm asks before turning his attention back to Percival "Standby _Vanguard_, we're moving in to investigate, have missile pods three and seven ready for fire support in case we need it."

"Acknowledged Sierra-121."

The transmission ended as the SPARTAN loads up his rifle and packed everything up before saying "C'mon, let's see what's going on."

"Right behind ya'" Ahsoka states as she stands up with her rifle slinging it over her shoulder before she followed the SPARTAN off the ridge to investigate the unusual Republic ship.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	11. Launch

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 11**

"**Launch"**

[Open fields of Saleucami]

Longarm and Ahsoka were traveling under the shroud of darkness as they drew near to the landed Consular-class cruiser to investigate its crew and purpose, the SPARTAN himself was perched up on top of a large boulder sticking out of the ground about seven hundred meters away from the ship with Ahsoka staying on the ground.

She asks "You see anything?"

Longarm was scanning the area through the scope of his rifle when he reports "Eh I don't see much, they've got a small camp set up with crates, couple of speeder bikes, and even a scout walker. I'm betting fifty credits on smugglers or pirates."

Suddenly he spots several figures coming out of the ship's main off ramp prompting him to states "Oh hey wait a second . . ." he adjusts his scope to zoom in further and reports "Alright I see a couple of B1 battle droids with blue markings, and a . . . short blue person with black hair, judging from this angle its gotta be female."

Ahsoka rolls her eyes muttering "No matter what galaxy they're from men always the same."

Longarm asks "My helmet's audio receptors picked up something, what was that about men being the same?"

"Nothing . . ."

The SPARTAN stood up from his crouched position and jumped down where he lands next to Ahsoka and said "I only saw four so far, let's get a closer look."

The two traveled further ahead until they reached a small hillside not too far from the ship itself now, by this point Longarm's motion tracker was picking up several signatures as he and Ahsoka got down onto the ground and crawled up the hill until they reached the top to see the activity happening down below in front of them.

The two brought their rifles up and looked into their scopes, Ahsoka was quick to identify one of the droids "Magna guards . . . what're they doing here?"

"Those things that were with Grievous? Well things just got more interesting."

She looked further through the scope and quickly found the blue skinned female Longarm noticed before and said "Found that girl you mentioned, that's a chiss and from the looks of it she's running the show. But . . ."

The SPARTAN turns his head to her asking "But?"

"There's something else here, I felt it before . . ."

"Where? Back on Dantooine?"

"Yeah . . . it's not Ventress but . . ."

Longarm looks back through his scope and quickly found the chiss woman to also realize that she was looking straight back at him with her dark piercing red eyes that were fixed on him and him alone, "I think we just got spotted . . ."

A male voice then spoke from behind them "Oh you have no idea . . ."

The SPARTAN and togruta quickly turned around to see a Muun, a species recognized by their near featureless faces and tall skinny body frame, and two magna guard droids armed with heavy blaster rifles, the only one to make a comment after that was Longarm saying ". . . fuck."

The Muun ordered "Set down your rifles and stand up, do it slowly and we won't have problems."

Longarm replies "Alright . . ." and starts to slowly stand up along with Ahsoka until he was towering over the six foot Muun who seemed to have taken a step back after seeing the SPARTAN's dominating height where he then said "But I'm afraid we already have a problem."

He suddenly lunges at the closest droid quickly disarming it following up with a quick punch that smashed into the droid's central red glowing circle in the chest and violently ripped out the internal components resulting in the droid's deactivation. Meanwhile Ahsoka drew her dual green lightsabers and effortlessly cuts the second droid down to size when it attempted to get a clear shot on Longarm.

The Muun quickly makes a move for his curved lightsaber hilt but soon finds himself at the receiving end of a blaster rifle being held by the SPARTAN who said with a grin "Pleasure to meet ya' . . ."

Suddenly out of nowhere a purple blade swung down and cuts Longarm's weapon in half and when he turned to face the new threat he sees the Chiss woman holster her dual edged lightsaber in exchange for an electro-staff much like his own even though he had left it aboard Ahsoka's ship, the Chiss spoke with a smooth and calm but somewhat threatening tone "Pleasure's all mine . . ."

The Muun proceeds to take his lightsaber erecting a yellow blade facing Ahsoka and her two sabers while Longarm drew his combat knife in a reverse grip ready to face the Chiss that was now twirling the staff through her fingers giving it a loud hum as the tips swung through the air.

At any moment these four were about to gut each other until a new voice roared out "ENOUGH!"

The four took the brief moment to look over by the ship to find the same Cerean from Dantooine, Cain, who then ordered "Padawans stow your weapons at once! This is not how we treat our guests!"

The Muun argued "But Master! They were going to—"

But Cain interrupts him "Agos, they were merely observing us. Surely if they wanted us dead then our dear friend Longarm would've done it from afar long ago."

The Chiss followed her orders as requested and holstered her electro-staff prompting the SPARTAN to lower his blade, the Muun however was reluctant to stand down but does so anyways putting away his lightsaber as well as Ahsoka. The two apprentices then walked over and stood before their master with bowed heads, Cain in turn places his hands on their shoulders and whispered in their ears. To Longarm and Ahsoka, the apprentices then left making their way back into the ship before Cain starts calmly walking over to the two guests.

Cain looks down at Ahsoka and states "Young Ahsoka Tano my it has been a while. The last time I saw you, you were a young child under the watchful eye of Master Yoda."

The two shook hands before Cain looks over to Longarm and said "I had hoped our encounter on Dantooine could've gone more peacefully, but I suppose I learned my lesson for taking you head on."

The SPARTAN-ll was hesitant to say anything but realizing that Cain was actually trying to be calm he replied "You're quick on your feet I'll give you that. But might I ask what you were doing with Ventress when we arrived?"

"I was going to capture her and bring her standing before a proper trial and punish her for her actions."

"You know you could've just killed her right? Save us both the trouble."

"Unlike you I'm not a murderer, if I allowed such savagery then I would not have intervened to stop my padawans from fighting you."

"Well if it helps any, I wiped out most of her droid army inside the facility."

Cain dismisses that comment as Ahsoka asks "What're you doing here on Saleucami?"

Cain answered "I came here after following him hoping to find some questions behind his . . . 'unique nature'."

The SPARTAN soon became uneasy when he asks in a more serious tone "What do you mean?"

"I can sense the absence of the force inside you and yet I can feel your anger and frustration, less powerful than before, but nonetheless I'm intrigued. My only theory to this is that you're not from around here so to speak."

Longarm and Ahsoka glanced at one another wondering if they should tell a man they just met or not, eventually it was Tano who stepped up and said "You're right Cain . . . he's not from this galaxy . . ."

Cain didn't seem surprised by this at all but instead seemed to be at ease stating "Well I cannot say I knew but I certainly had my thoughts. How long have you been here Longarm?"

"Couple of years before the Clone Wars . . ."

"I see. And have you tried to return to your own home?"

"We have a friend on the ship currently working on that. We should be able to launch by tomorrow."

"Ah yes that vessel of yours, it is a warship yes?"

"Halberd-class Destroyer, one of the toughest ships within the UNSC."

"The UNSC? Well if returning home is your overall goal then I wish you the best of luck. But if you have other plans here then I suggest you tread lightly."

Longarm takes a step towards the Cerean and looks down at him asking with an imposing tone "Is that a threat?"

Cain remains calm "No, only a warning. I'm sure you are aware of the two warring factions and the might they possess, but the darkness grows stronger day by day and we all must ready ourselves for the coming storm."

"What're you saying?" Tano asks with concern.

"I don't know young one but something is coming and I fear for the worst of it. But now I have a question to ask of you, what are you doing with this, outsider?"

She hesitated "I . . . honestly I don't know. There's something about him I must know . . ."

"Like what?" Longarm asks.

"I don't know . . . maybe when the time comes I'll know."

Cain comments "I see . . . well I suppose I wish you luck to that as well. But I will be sure to inform Skywalker of this, so that he'll know that you are safe."

"Thank you . . ."

The SPARTAN placed his right hand on Cain's shoulder saying "You know what, I'm starting to like you. You're the kind of person a lot of people would want to be, one not willing to resort to violence but will do so if necessary."

"Well I have my reasons, and I admire your respect. Unfortunately based on my personal beliefs I cannot say the same for you and your kind, but I can only hope you are fighting for a right purpose."

Longarm took his arm off of the Cerean replying "We are, don't worry."

Ahsoka then notices the two apprentices were coming back out, they stopped two meters behind Cain with the Chiss female calmly stating "Master."

Cain didn't take his eyes off of the SPARTAN in front of him when he asks "Yes Eva?"

"Preparations have been made for our departure . . . Agos will have the droids dismantle the camp and return to the ship."

"Thank you Eva . . . please, come meet our guests."

The two stepped forth and took their places by their master's side where they calmly introduced themselves starting with the Muun "I am Agos Pathisk, I take charge of all ground assets as well as financial.

Then the Chiss "And I am Eva Rha, I'm in charge of this beautiful vessel you see before you, the _Viper Infinite_. And might I say I'm quite impressed by the architecture of your ship, I assume it is heavily armored?"

Longarm answered "Titanium-A battle plating, two meters thick."

"Shielding?"

"None"

Ahsoka asks in surprise "None?"

Eva was surprised as well "Really? That is certainly unusual but I suppose you have your reasons."

Longarm nods before asking "And your ship looks as if it can hold its own as well."

Eva grinned "Glad you think so, this is a Consular-class cruiser with a Charger c70 retrofit, this ship is armed with five twin laser turrets capable of fending off fighters and small attack vessels and has a large engine output making it able to escape from larger warships."

"Nice . . ." the SPARTAN comments as he looks at the hundred and thirty eight meter long vessel.

Ahsoka asked with a scowl "That's Republic standard issue, how did _you_ get that?"

Eva answered "Truth be told I rather not talk about it, let's just leave it at it was a gift."

"Somehow I don't see it that way" Tano said now distrusting the Chiss.

Longarm steps in "Hey it's been seventeen years since I saw my last cat fight and somebody died with a tomahawk to their forehead and I prefer not to see another one anytime soon, especially with lightsabers."

Cain adds "I agree, now is not the time to bicker. Eva please return to the ship and prepare for departure."

"Yes Master" Eva says before walking away without another word.

He then turns to the Muun "Agos make sure our assets are secured."

"Yes Master" Agos replied giving a bow and started walking away.

With the two apprentices leaving to tend to their duties, Cain turns his attention back to Ahsoka and Longarm stating "We will be returning to Coruscant soon and say hello to a few old friends, I understand if you don't wish to accompany us on the trip."

The SPARTAN shook his head lightly "Maybe another time, right now we got our own business to tend to."

"I see, well in that case this is farewell for now. Here take this, in case you wish to speak to me in the future" he hands Ahsoka a small data packet containing the channel codes for his personal comlink.

"Thank you. We should be going as well, Percy will start to worry and I don't want to know what'll happen if he gets worried" Ahsoka said as Longarm turns around making his way back up the hill where their two rifles still laid on the ground next to the two destroyed magna guards.

"I wish you the best of luck Ahsoka Tano, but be weary of those you come to trust."

"I understand Komari . . ."

Cain stopped for a second before giving a caring grin and walk away back to the ship, Ahsoka looked down at the packet in her hand before carefully storing it for later use and make her way back up to the SPARTAN who waited for her on the hill with both rifles slung around his shoulders. When she caught up to him the two started making their way back to the _Vanguard_ which sat nearly four kilometers away and the walk would take nearly an hour to make.

A little over an hour passed before the two made their way back to the _Vanguard_ where Percival welcomed them back by opening the air lock allowing them in, the AI reports "Good news SPARTAN, all systems are green across the board, we're ready for launch on your word."

Longarm asked "Really? That's good to hear Percival. Prep for final launch sequence, I'll head up to the bridge."

But Ahsoka stops them "Wait what about the other ships outside?"

Percival adds "Oh yes, they could in handy later on. We still do have the ventral hangar bay large enough to store the fighter and we can use the docking tubes to attach the larger ship."

The SPARTAN then states "Alright Ahsoka will take the Gozanti and I'll take the fighter, once the _Vanguard_ reaches orbit we'll both dock and we'll go from there."

Tano replies "Sounds good" and walked back out through the air lock making her way back to the small cruiser.

Longarm sets the two rifles down on the floor against the wall and follows the young togruta out the airlock and starts making his way to the Porax-38 Starfighter. Once inside he seals the cockpit and brought the fighter's systems online before slowly taking control and lifting up off the ground in sync with Ahsoka's Gozanti-class cruiser.

The SPARTAN's helmet soon received brief static before Percival states on an open channel "All nearby craft be advised, recommend putting distance from the _Vanguard_ during launch phase."

He replies "Acknowledged" but Ahsoka's voice came through garbled "Wh- -as th-t?"

He had forgotten about the communication channels being set on a whole new set of coordinates, he quickly contacts Tano through the fighter's comms and says "Keep your distance from the _Vanguard_."

"Alright" she replies clearly through the comms.

Percival states "I'll do what I can about that communication problem, standby engaging ventral and auxiliary thruster engines on my mark."

The two smaller craft immediately began putting distance between themselves and the destroyer as the ship's fusion drives powered by the main deuterium fusion reactor begin to spool up, it was only seconds later did the AI say "Mark!"

The six ventral thruster engines roared to life and begin putting power out throwing dirt in every direction as the seven thousand and nine hundred metric ton vessel slowly began lifting itself up off the ground. Longarm was maintaining close proximity flying in circles around the destroyer making sure everything was going smoothly as it slowly rose into the air with its engines putting out as much thrust as possible.

He then heard Ahsoka report "Guys, three contacts just came out of hyperspace all at once."

Percival adds "I confirm those contacts, one larger than the _Vanguard_."

Longarm asks Tano "What do you have Ahsoka?"

"Judging from the signatures I take it there's two corvettes accompanying a separatist frigate."

"Separatist? You sure?"

"I'm sure . . ."

"Percival, are the _Vanguard's_ weapon systems and countermeasures operational?"

"Yes but I need the power to get the ship into orbit, I can spare some minimum power and get two Archer pods primed."

"Alright do it, Ahsoka and I will provide cover support."

"Acknowledged, engaging primary engines now."

The _Vanguard's_ four primary engines ignited and created enough thrust to start pushing the destroyer forward as Percival gently tilted the bow upwards and guide the ship towards orbit, the _Vanguard_ eventually placed enough power behind her to start gaining speed while Longarm and Ahsoka assumed close formation and flew side by side with the destroyer as they make their way to orbit.

Ahsoka reports "The fleet is holding position and deploying fighters, we're going to have to face the music now."

A familiar voice spoke to all three vessels "It's Ventress . . . she has come for all of you."

Longarm checks the channel and asks "Cain Komari?"

"Indeed, we will provide support on one condition."

Ahsoka replies "Name it."

"I want her alive."

The SPARTAN complied "Done, we need you to provide cover support to the _Vanguard_ until Percival can engage the ship-to-ship weapons. Percival, go easy on that frigate you hear me?"

"A solid MAC round should cripple that vessel, I'm leaving those corvettes and fighters to you all."

Longarm looked behind him through the glass dome of his ship and saw the Consular-class cruiser, _Viper Infinite_, coming in on approach flying through clouds until it came up assuming position alongside the destroyer with Eva reporting "Weapons are primed and shields are active, ready to assist."

"Acknowledged _Viper_, we're entering the upper atmosphere. Diverting power from ventral thrusters to the main engines and priming Archer Missile pods and defense turrets" Percival states as he prepares the _Vanguard _for its first battle in several years.

Ahsoka reports "The fleet is arming weapons, this could get ugly."

Longarm finally states "Alright everyone here we go."

**I would like to thank Laurent Chartier for developing the characters, Eva Rha and Agos Pathisk, and the ship **_**Viper Infinite**_**. As of now he has created a Skyrim-Fallout crossover story that could use the helpful constructive criticism to help aid him in creating a great story, the story is called "The Elder Scrolls: Capital Wasteland" if you're interested. As always leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	12. Ready aim fire

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 12**

"**Ready aim fire"**

[In orbit over Saleucami]

Asajj Ventress was now walking onto the command bridge of her Munificent-class Star Frigate, the _Justification_, when the commander of the ship, a T-series Tactical Droid named TX-52, stands up from his command chair and greets her.

TX-52 clasps his hands and reports in a steady masculine monotone voice "Mistress, four ships are on approach and our weapons are primed and ready to fire."

"Good, get me Kahn."

The tactical droid nods "Yes Mistress, opening communication channel to the _Bellicose_."

Ventress takes her spot standing in front of the command chair shortly before a hologram of a seven foot Mandalorian, standing on the bridge of his Crusader-class Corvette, wearing a more heavily armored version of their typical body armor and his helmet featured a long carved scar all across the frontal faceplate and visor.

Ventress greets the Mandalorian mercenary "Granor Kahn, are your men ready?"

Kahn answered with a cutthroat attitude in a low raspy voice signifying an injury to his voice box some time ago "Yeah we're ready. But our scanners are picking up four ships and you said we were dealing with one."

Ventress knew Kahn was ruthless in his attacks implementing cunning tactics and sheer ferocity, which was why she hired him to help her take the _Vanguard_, but if Kahn catches even the faintest hint of deception then there's no chance of her getting what she wanted.

Fortunately she decided to put on her charm and use this to her advantage "Consider this; if you help me take the ship I mentioned before, then you will be paid the original amount we discussed and these additional ships will be your bonus."

The mercenary captain considered the reward then said "Alright, you'll have your ship but everything else is ours."

"Then we're in an agreement then."

Granor nodded silently and ordered to the crew aboard his ship "Alright men we're going in, all hands on deck, move it people let's go!" before his hologram dissipated from Ventress's sight.

TX-52 steps up and reports "Mistress, the ships are now coming within visual range seventeen kilometers off our ventral starboard bow."

Asajj orders "Put it on screen, I wish to see what we're dealing with."

"Yes Mistress, displaying now."

Ventress looked up to the set of large overhead monitors that hung from the ceiling and saw the four ships closing in on their position, the first two ships she noticed were the corvette size Gozanti-class cruiser and a Republic Consular-class cruiser with their weapons primed, then a small fighter craft that was taking the lead, and finally the massive black destroyer that dwarfed all the other vessels around it.

"Give the word to Kahn and send our fighters to accompany them."

"Yes Mistress" TX-52 replies before turning to the bridge crew consisting of numerous B1 droids and order "Launch all fighters!"

A chorus of droids responded "Roger Roger" and got to work.

Alongside the _UNSC Vanguard_ Ahsoka, inside her Gozanti-class cruiser, reports "They're launching fighters."

Eva aboard the _Viper Infinite_ adds "Yeah and those two corvettes are moving in, Crusader classes from the looks of them."

Longarm was guiding his Porax-38 Starfighter through the thin clouds of Saleucami's upper atmosphere when he gains a visual of the two corvettes being accompanied by seven Vulture Droid Starfighters launched from the frigate's small hangar bay and reports "I have visual, I'll handle those fighters while Ahsoka and Eva deals with those corvettes. Percival you have the frigate."

"Acknowledged rotating point defense turrets and preparing automated damage control . . . be advised large energy signature detected along the frigate bow."

Eva states "They're raising forward deflector shields, our weapons won't penetrate."

Only a moment later did the SPARTAN get an idea, he asks "Eva, what can their shields block?"

"Just about anything from space dust to heavy turbo lasers, but they have to even out both particle and ray shielding to effectively stop any attack."

"I bet it's probably a bit back breaking for the ship's reactors to keep up with that right?"

"Yeah I suppose so, why?"

"An idea" Longarm states before ordering the _Vanguard_ "Percival, cycle the MAC gun and prepare to fire, ready pods one through eight for full missile barrage once the shields fall."

"MAC?" Eva asks with concern.

"Never mind that, you just focus on those corvettes and I'll handle the fighters."

"Fighters inbound!" Ahsoka calls out.

Longarm's eyes focuses on the tight cluster of droid Starfighters closing in on him, seven droid fighters built and programmed to be the most ruthless and unrelenting killers in space against a lone fighter piloted by a single SPARTAN-ll that only has training from the secret SABRE Program, '_This shouldn't be too bad_' he thought to himself hoping for the best.

He then yells "Engaging!" before pressing both of his thumbs down on the triggers releasing a steady stream of red bolts of energy from his twin fire-linked blaster cannons moments before the squadron of droids returned fire.

The two Crusader gunships locked weapons and open fired on the lone fighter with their lethal array of anti-fighter blasters but it wasn't long before the Consular and Gozanti cruisers engaged with their high-powered blaster cannons firing off blue bolts of energy that repeatedly slammed against the Crusaders' shielding prompting them to turn their attention to the corvettes. The _Vanguard_ on the other hand steamrolls through the small skirmish of fighters and corvettes so that it could get a clear shot on the _Justification_ when the frigate itself fired off a brief volley of rounds from its heavy armament of twenty six twin turbo laser cannons. Most of the bolts of highly concentrated energy zipped passed the destroyer harmlessly except for three which impacted the titanium hull, one actually deflected off the ship's port side after striking against the heavily armored plating which was already sloped at an extreme angle for the round while the other two struck against the mid bow with one impacting above the two MAC cannons and the other detonating just below the bridge.

Percival reports "Taking fire, hull breach on deck fourteen and eleven. Structural integrity holding, MAC at thirty seven percent."

Longarm by this time was already tailing a droid fighter in a high speed pursuit when he responds "Alright Percival do what you can . . ." he falls silent to take a moment and fire off a steady three second burst of blaster fire which struck the fleeing fighter along the right wing and sent it spiraling out of control, afterwards he said "We got the situation here under control."

"Easy for you to say!" Ahsoka blurts out through the comms "This Crusader is giving me a hard time!"

"Alright hang on I'm coming to assist" the SPARTAN states before changing course to aid Ahsoka in her fight against one of the Mandalorian Crusader corvette.

From his point of view he could see Ahsoka's small cruiser already locked in broadside combat with the slightly smaller Crusader gunship, bolts of red and blue traveled back and forth and minor explosions rocked both vessels until the SPARTAN and his Porax was able to swoop in for a single strafing run sending blaster fire across the ship's dorsal hull and failing shields. As expected, the gunship quickly turned some of its guns towards the fleeing fighter and began firing off bursts of blaster fire while Tano took the given time to target the ship's cannons and destroy them with her own armament of light blaster cannons and quad laser cannons.

"Thanks for the help Longarm, think I got it from here."

"Acknowledged, breaking off."

The _Viper Infinite_ was already engaged with the second Crusader warship as the two exchanged blaster fire each racking the other's shields when Eva calls out through the comms "We're going to need help here in a second!"

Longarm was about to go and assist until a trio of droid fighters caught up and began firing away at the Porax-38, he responded "I can't help, I got fighters on me."

Percival however complied "Acknowledged _Viper_, missile pod seven is ready. Target locked . . . Archers away!"

From the _Vanguard's_ port aft section of the ship, a storm of sixty M58 Archer Ship-to-Ship Missiles shot out of one of the destroyer's oversized missile pods and raced their way towards the second Crusader gunship. The Crusader was quick to react and turned their blaster cannons to the incoming missiles as well as activated its onboard point-defense laser cannon that were designed to intercept missiles and proton torpedoes. The cannons let loose releasing a wide spread of laser fire into the vacuum of space with the occasional shot downing a single missile as they drew close, one by one the missiles were shot down but there was still too many and they were approaching fast. The missiles soon came into range of the point-defense cannon where it then began shooting down the incoming projectiles with deadly accuracy but the fire rate was too slow for the still numerical and speedy anti-ship missiles that were now seconds away from impact. The _Viper Infinite _immediately disengaged and changed course away from the mandalorian corvette to place distance between itself and the inevitable blast, Agos was attending to the scanners when he gradually watched that out of the sixty missiles that were launched from the _Vanguard_, thirteen made their mark impacting all across the ship's hull. He switches to a camera monitor and visibly watched the corvette be torn a sunder as the missiles either detonated against the outer hull causing little damage or penetrated the weaker armor plating and viciously gut the internal compartments from the inside when the warheads detonated inside.

Pathisk seemed to have shuddered at the thought of this sort of unfortunate fate by the fearsome firepower of a UNSC destroyer as he muttered "What monstrous power . . ."

Meanwhile, Longarm had managed to elude the droid fighters for enough time to look over his shoulder and see the targeted corvette slowly drift away as nothing more than a graveyard when he heard the AI report "Corvette-two is down, proceeding with next target."

"Good work Percival, Ahsoka what's the word?"

Tano responded "Corvette-one is deploying boarding craft; they're heading straight for the _Vanguard_!"

"Acknowledged, stay on that corvette while I handle the boarding craft, _Viper_ you're on fighter duty."

Eva complied "Copy that, recycling shields and resetting the cannons, heads up you got three on your tail!"

The SPARTAN briefly checked his sensors to find three droid signatures closing fast behind him just moments before he see red laser bolts zip past his cockpit as they try to shoot him down.

He quickly orders "Percival I'm on route to intercept those boarding craft but these droids are going to a pain in my ass, ready the gun turrets for covering fire."

"Roger, gun turrets are online and loaded."

Longarm nodded to that and pressed the throttle lever to the farthest point gaining the maximum engine output from the fighter's dual heavy engines but the pursuing droid fighters were still able to keep up firing blaster bolts in the meantime. The SPARTAN quickly gains visual of four small transport ships, captured clone LAAT Gunships recognized by their large fuselage, downward slanted wings, and the two large tubes on top that were in fact missile launchers. He then immediately moves in and prepares to fire while the droid starfighters were still hot on his heels, his targets soon reached the kill zone of one kilometer for the _Vanguard's_ array of eight M910 point defense guns, each turret holding two 50mm autocannons utilizing magnetic linear accelerator technology for firing, as they turned and began firing away putting hundreds of high explosive rounds downrange towards the oncoming transports and Longarm along with his pursuers. It wasn't long for the shells to make their way to the smaller craft and detonating wildly creating a dense field of flak forcing everyone to take evasive maneuvers hoping to avoid a direct hit or at least an explosion within close proximity. The SPARTAN watches a dropship ahead of him take a direct hit from a 50mm shell to the cockpit before exploding violently, shortly after he notices a droid signature drop off the sensors indicating its destruction in the heavy flak. He soon comes into range of the second ship and begins squeezing of short accurate bursts of blaster fire until he hits the dropship's left wing close to the missile launcher and sent it burning into oblivion, it was only moments later when the third dropship ahead of him tumble out of control after a shell detonated within close proximity and eventually destroyed.

That left only one dropship left but it was drawing ever so closer to the _Vanguard's_ only hangar located along the ventral hull, the SPARTAN orders "Percival seal all hatches, do not let them pass beyond the hangar."

"Done, they only way they'll be getting through is if they say pretty please."

Longarm grinned for the briefest moment until several bolts fired from the droid starfighters struck along his right wing and caused it to catch flames making him lose control of his fighter, he does everything he could do but there was no chance of saving this vehicle, he states "I've been hit! Ejecting!"

Tano asks in worry "Is everything alright!?"

The SPARTAN-ll didn't have time to answer that question and pressed several buttons resulting in the ship's canopy to blow off and allowed him to simply jump out where he floated adrift as he watched the Porax-38 spiral out of control and slam into the underside of the destroyer. He turns around to see the droid fighters break off their attack and flee but one was easily destroyed by heavy cannon fire while the other escaped only to be cut down by the _Viper Infinite's_ forward blaster cannon while it had two other fighters pursuing it.

Percival reports "Minor impact detected against the lower hull. Sierra-121 what's your status?"

Ahsoka asks in alarm "Longarm!?"

The SPARTAN looked around himself and responded into his helmet's comms "I'm fine everyone, I'm making my way to the hangar. Percival what do we have?"

The AI answers "I count six soldiers; well-armed and equipped, one is about as tall as you are. I advise caution."

"Copy that, what's the progress with the MAC?"

"MAC gun is currently at eighty two percent."

"Good, I'm heading in now" Longarm states before activating his armor's built in EVA thrusters slowly propelling him forward towards the edge of the _Vanguard's _hangar bay where he'll engage the boarding party with what weapons will be available to him.

Aboard the _Viper Infinite_, Eva Rha and Agos Pathisk were at their posts in the ship's small cockpit flying and monitoring the sensors while the droid crew operated other systems and manned the cannons. Cain Komari himself stood behind his two apprentices looking out through the narrow view port seeing the battle before him, he particularly paid special attention to the _Vanguard_ as it engages the _Justification_ with volleys of Archer Missiles only for the missiles to impact against the frigate's shields which glowed green around the areas of impact. While he seemed puzzled at understanding what possible uses projectile weaponry could have he wasn't entirely impressed by it unlike his apprentices, especially Eva who has a fascination with ships, and was therefore disgusted by the destroyer's purpose as a war machine.

Agos reports "The separatist frigate is directing their cannons onto us."

Eva asks with surprise "Us!? Why us!? The _Vanguard_ is the one firing at them not us!"

Cain explains "Because Ventress does not want the _Vanguard_ to be destroyed, she wants it for her own uses. And may the force help us if she was to acquire such power."

Eva comments "I haven't seen anything else other than missiles and flak, that ship doesn't seem that powerful."

"Looks can be deceitful young one, all of us should tread lightly around it for it may have many surprises in store."

A B1 battle droid with blue markings steps into the cockpit and reports "Commander, two of our cannons overheated from the last firing sequence."

"What already!? Fine, divert power from the cannons to the rear deflector shields" Eva orders.

The droid complied "Roger Roger" before leaving the cockpit when the Chiss turns her attention to Agos and says "Get Tano, tell her we're coming to help her finish off that other Crusader."

"You got it" Pathisk replied before pressing several switches and alerting Ahsoka.

Cain said nothing knowing he trusted in Eva and Agos's abilities to handle any situation, especially in situations such as this, since Eva was well trained as a pilot in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force before deserting to become a pirate until she met him, and Agos had been by his side ever since he was eight years old when Cain took him as his apprenctice back in the Jedi Order. Outside opinions would say that Agos and Cain were as close as father and son but the two promised that they would not become emotionally attached.

The _Viper_ moved across open space from the two clashing giants to Ahsoka's cruiser that was only seven kilometers away, Ahsoka's voice spoke through the comms "I've damaged some their cannons but they're still putting up a heavy fight, take it out so we can help Percy."

"Acknowledged Ahsoka, we're entering weapons range now" Eva responds before asking Agos "What cannons do we still have?"

The Muun quickly runs a diagnostics of the ship and reports "Front and starboard cannons are still operational."

"Good target the Crusader's bridge and set the cannons to full charge, we're ending this."

The Consular-class cruiser comes streaming in at high speed with two of the twin cannons aimed at the Crusader's bridge located at the front of the vessel with the viewport exposed and the shields faltering under the Gozanti's withering fire.

Agos states "Cannons ready!"

Eva then ordered "Fire!"

The twin blaster cannons fired away with increased firepower which ultimately shattered what remained of the corvette's shields and blew the bridge and its crew apart resulting in the ship to lose power and drift away as a useless husk of metal as what's left of the crew abandoned ship via escape pods.

Agos sees the pods jettison themselves from the downed Crusader and said "There they go! Let's make sure they don't get away!"

However Ahsoka rebukes that statement "No! They're in life pods and you want to gun them down!?"

Cain agrees "I concur with young Tano, while I despise these kind of people, if we destroy these defenseless men in cold blood then we are no better than them. Let them live this day."

Agos was agitated by his master's decision to let these thugs live he fully understood him and replied "Yes Master."

The _Viper Infinite_ and the accompanying Gozanti-class cruiser then changed course away from the drifting ship wreck and placed all power to their engines in order to quickly make their way back to the destroyer and aid it in its fight against the separatist frigate.

Outside the _Vanguard's_ hangar bay, Longarm slowly crept along the lower hull barely using his EVA boosters to give him propulsion until he reached the ledged leading up, he rounds the corner and floats upwards to the point where he grabbed the edge of the hangar floor and poked his head out to see inside. The LAAT gunship was settled down next to the _Vanguard's_ only remaining D77-TC Pelican Dropship, the others were destroyed when the ship crashed on the planet's surface, and six armed men in full body armor carefully searching through the hangar while two more were on a catwalk trying to break their way through the sealed hatch.

The SPARTAN whispers into his comms "Percival you said there were six soldiers, where the hell did the other two come from?"

The AI responded "The two pilots inside the dropship came out, they're the ones working the door right now."

"And what's their progress?"

"They've brought out some tools and are slowly cutting their way through but it'll still take some time. There's a weapons station to on the port side a little ways."

Longarm looks along the wall and sees the small wall mounted weapons station containing two MA37s and two BR55HB battle rifles, "I see 'em . . . I'm heading in now" he says before activating his active camouflage and climb onto the hangar floor.

Using his stealth he slowly crept along the port hangar wall as he kept his eyes on the six foot soldiers that patrolled the hangar floor search vigilantly for anyone that might not be one of their own, it wasn't long before he noticed a rather tall soldier close to the pelican just simply standing there looking at it and judging from the heavy plated armor he had to be the leader of the others. The SPARTAN finally reached the weapon station and carefully lifted the bar which held the weapons inside and took out a battle rifle which vanished when his camouflaged hand grabbed it, he pulls the bolt back and allows it to swing back forward loading the first round into the firing chamber and slaps the rifle onto his back magnetic strip.

Now that he had a weapon he needed to find a good defendable position to fight from but he didn't have time to even move when he heard a mandalorian call out "Hey I think I saw something!"

Another calls out "Like what?"

"I don't know, come with me."

"Alright."

To his left Longarm spotted two soldiers armed with small blaster carbines that had a blocky and angular design to them and they coming ever closer, he moves off to the side and allows the two to pass him where they stopped at the weapons station and noticed something was missing.

One soldier obviously states "Hey there were four rifles . . ."

The other spoke "We gotta tell the—" before the SPARTAN grabbed hold of his head and forcibly twisted his neck with a loud bone snapping sound.

The dead soldier simply dropped like a sack of potatoes when the other jumped back yelling "WHAT TH—" but Longarm moved quickly drawing his combat knife and driving the seven inch blade into the mandalorian's abdomen causing the soldier to fall silent as his garbled voice try to utter a cry of pain but nothing came.

Longarm drops the second soldier dead only for a moment later to be struck in the back by a yellow plasma bolt which caused his shields to flash orange, a second later he hears a soldier ask "The hell is that thing!?"

The SPARTAN realized that there was no more point in hiding and reveals himself to the four remaining soldiers already lined up and aiming their weapons at him, two of them stepped back a couple of feet after seeing how tall Longarm was and what he had done to their comrades but the leader and the other soldier held their ground

The leader then roars out "Whoever kills him gets his armor!"

Then at that very moment the three other soldiers open fired with their blasters while Longarm pulls out his battle rifle and fires off a burst of rounds striking a soldier in his chest armor knocking him to the ground, the SPARTAN then started moving to the side continuously firing back at the mandalorians. The soldier that was shot slowly got back up which proved to Longarm that their armor was strong enough to withstand that kind of attack so he decides to go close quarters where he'll take them out one by one. He charges towards the group throwing his rifle aside and throws a right fist with all his augmented might catching a soldier by the helmet and smashes the faceplate inwards killing him instantly, he seizes the soldier's blaster before it fell and shoots down the other two killing them as well until taking aim at the heavily armored leader and fired off a few bolts. The leader's armor shrugged off the bolts as if it was nothing and he shot back but only managed to get one shot off before the SPARTAN slammed his right shoulder with force causing the leader to lose his grip on his blaster. He retaliates with quick blow to Longarm's gut but despite his strength he only got a small grunt out of the SPARTAN before he in turns throws a much more powerful blow to the mandalorian's helmet.

The leader staggers backwards a couple of steps with his vision dazed before growling "Nobody has ever survived a fight with me! Granor Khan!"

"Then it pleases me to be the first!" Longarm responded before he performs a roundhouse kick slamming the bottom of his right boot against Kahn's chest knocking him backwards.

Granor roared in anger and rushes the UNSC super soldier throwing a quick one-two punch landing the first successful blow to his left collarbone area but the second was deflected by the SPARTAN before he in turn sends a right uppercut straight into Kahn's stomach where he sent the concussive force of the blow rippling throughout the mandalorian's body and finishing it with a another right devastating punch to the side of his head. Kahn fell backwards from the hit but he steadily gets back up and draws a long eleven inch curved combat knife made out of a high-composite metal, Longarm in response brings out his seven inch combat knife in a reverse grip and readies himself. Kahn was the first to move lunging at the SPARTAN's throat with his knife but Longarm ducks and moves left before making a wide swing letting his blade clash against Granor's right shoulder pad. The mandalorian growled and swings his knife backwards but Longarm catches Kahn's arm with his left hand and then drives his combat knife into his side where he lets go and breaks Granor's arm forcing him to cry out in pain and let go of his combat knife. The SPARTAN then swings around and forcibly grabs him by the neck where he lifts up with his upper body strength, assisted by his augmentations, and throws him towards the hangar bay entrance where he lands on the floor close to the edge. A yellow bolt of energy strikes Longarm in the back breaking his shields before he turns around bringing out the blaster he took from the dead soldiers and expertly placed a bolt through both of the pilots' heads as they tried to come and save their leader. He turns back to Kahn and tosses the blaster aside as he walks over to the downed mandalorian where he then stomps his foot down on the man's chest and kneel down to forcibly tear his knife back out of his side and held it close to Kahn's faceplate.

Kahn muttered with hatred "Never once have I've been beaten . . . no one has ever won . . ."

Longarm responded "Yeah well there's a first time for everything, better get used to it."

Kahn then began to snarl "No . . . I will not be beaten like this! I'll tear your throat out!" and lunges up towards the SPARTAN who then quickly drove his knife through the side of his neck.

He finally froze and his voice gurgled trying to speak but he couldn't say anything as Longarm pulls the blade out and pushed him out of the hangar where he drifted out into space holding onto his neck, Longarm sheathes his knife and got onto his comms "Hangar bay cleared."

Percival responded "Acknowledged" then got onto open comms to Ahsoka and the _Viper Infinite_ "Be advised, all units, Destroyer one-five-one Heavy is locked and MAC rounds have been authorized. Recommend keeping minimum distance and standby."

Ahsoka responded "Copy that _Vanguard_ keeping distance."

Then Eva "Acknowledged _Vanguard_, _Viper Infinite_ is maintaining safe distance."

The AI responded "Copy, standby firing MAC in three. Two. One. Firing."

From the front of the Halberd-class Destroyer's two forward mounted MAC guns came a six hundred ton Ferric-Tungsten slug moving at a fraction of lightspeed, Ahsoka and the crew of the _Viper Infinite_ watched the orange blur move across their vision in an instant and violently smash into the frigate's energy shielding that soon collapsed under the monstrous kinetic force sending the round slamming into the starboard-bow section of the ship destroying the turbo laser emplacements and ripping apart anything else that may have been in that section.

Aboard the _Justification_, Ventress along with the droid bridge crew stumbled back and forth as the ship violently rocked, after getting her footing Asajj calls out "Report!"

TX-52 reports "Mistress, our shields have failed and our starboard bow weapon banks has been decimated."

"How!? The Republic doesn't have that kind of firepower, how could this one ship be superior!?"

A B1 Droid reports "Mistress, we're detecting another build up in electro-magnetic energy near the bow of the enemy ship, they're preparing to fire again."

And like that Ventress growls and flees the bridge leaving TX-52 to order "Return fire! Set a course for hyperspace!"

The droids responded "Roger Roger."

The port bow gun turrets turned and open fired sending down what available firepower it had remaining upon the destroyer's heavily armored prow causing minor explosions all across the hull but the _Vanguard_ held true and fired its second MAC round sending it into the frigate's aft engine compartment, with the shields no longer in the way the hypervelocity round penetrated the ship's lower armor and tore straight through the engines and reactor and emerged out the upper hull where the slug still traveled at a portion of its original velocity. The second impact caused the entire frigate to shuttered and buckled as it tries to compensate for the huge loss of mass, all electrical systems went dark and the guns fell silent no longer placing the destroyer under fire.

"Whoa . . ." Tano comments after witnessing the full might of the UNSC's military power.

Eva watched the frigate's brief and brutal destruction and asks "Agos . . . think you have enough money to get us one of those?"

Agos's mouth was slightly open in awe when he answered "I don't think it'll even matter . . ."

Cain watched as the frigate slowly break apart, his horror of such a powerful weapon as well as his hatred for the unnecessary death of Asajj Ventress mixed within him, he says "This weapon is far too dangerous, even in trained hands, no one should have this kind of power . . ."

Everyone fell silent as they watched the separatist frigate slowly tear itself apart and drift into open space until Percival reports "New contact! Fighter class!"

Cain firmly states "It's Ventress! We must not let her escape!"

Eva responded "Yes Master, sending power to weapons and engines."

Ahsoka adds "I'm right behind you."

The two smaller cruisers diverted their power to the engines making their way to the shipwreck where a Ginivex-class Starfighter, commonly known as the Fanblade Starfighter, emerged from the debris and sped away towards open space.

Percival reports "Arming ASGM-10 Missile pods, acquiring target solution."

But Komari orders "No! We must capture her alive!" only for moments later when the fighter jumped into hyperspace.

Eva pounded her hand on the command console "Dammit! She escaped Master . . ."

"Fear not young one . . . we will eventually."

Percival reports "Sector clear, no hostiles detected save for those life pods, minimum hull damage."

Longarm states "Good work everyone, sorry Ventress got away Cain I know how badly you wanted her capture."

"You're apology is not needed, you succeeded in destroying the frigate and victory is yours. We will be making our way back to Coruscant now, Ahsoka Tano I wish you safety and the best of luck."

Tano replied "Thank you Komari . . . until we meet again."

"Likewise, Eva set course we're leaving this system."

Only moments afterwards did the Consular-class cruiser jump into hyperspace out of the system leaving only the Halberd-class Destroyer and Gozanti-class Cruiser, Longarm orders "Ahsoka head back to the _Vanguard_, we're going to figure out our next move."

"Alright setting course, and I think I know our next move . . ."

"Which is?"

"Well a while ago I got a transmission from Obi-wan, he says he wants your help in taking a separatist shipyard out in the null sector a week from now, I'm sending you the coordinates."

Percival responded "Roger receiving . . . that's a month's worth of time in slipspace."

Longarm states "We won't make it in time . . . but I think . . . Percival can we use power from Ahsoka's ship and apply it to our own?"

Ahsoka asks "Wait I thought tampering with your FTL drive will destroy the ship."

"We're not, the slipspace drive just helps us get into slipstream space, our main engines is what propels us through it thus giving us our FTL travel. If we can contribute the cruiser's power to our engines we can get to places faster than standard UNSC ships."

"It's possible, it all depends on how much power the cruiser's reactor is putting out."

"Alright then its settled, once Ahsoka docks with the _Vanguard_ and get an ETA then we'll jump and aid Obi-wan."

Ahsoka seemed pleased knowing the SPARTAN was willing to help the Republic and said "Thanks, I'll send word to Kenobi that we're coming with some firepower."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	13. Warnings and orientation tours

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 13**

"**Warnings and orientation tours"**

[Jedi Temple, Coruscant]

It's been a day since the _UNSC Vanguard_ rose from Saleucami's surface and engaged the frigate _Justification_ and ended up victorious. The corvette _Viper Infinite_, and her crew, had landed on one of the landing pads of the Jedi Temple. Eva and Agos remained by the ship to attend to what needed to be done while Cain Komari ventures inside to find Anakin Skywalker in regards to his former padawan, as he made his way through an external plaza he noticed he has been receiving several different looks from the people around him, looks of pride, respect, worry, and even disgust. But he did not let those last two affect him as he greets those considered friends to him and make his way inside the temple, when he made it inside he walked down the massive corridors that always seemed to have someone walking through them. He turns around a corner to see a small class of Jedi younglings being led by one of his oldest friends in the order, a middle aged human male from Naboo wearing a typical outfit for a Jedi with brown hair and a missing left eye, Jedi Knight Lador Mattis.

The two old friends stopped in front of each other where Lador said "Cain Komari old friend it is good to see you again."

"Likewise Mattis, off to lightsaber practice are we?" Cain asks as he looks down at the younglings.

"Indeed, Master Yoda would normally be the one to take them but he personally requested that I teach them while he had other matters to attend to" Lador then turns to the younglings and said "Everyone, I would like you to meet my dearest friend, Cain Komari."

The young children greeted the Cerean "Hello Master Komari."

"And hello to you all little ones, this is your first time is it not?"

"Yes Master" the kids answered.

Cain pulls out his own lightsaber "A lightsaber is a Jedi's most trusted weapon, but remember that it is only to be used as a last resort for a Jedi's true weapon is their words and understanding. They don't call us keepers of the peace for nothing."

One child asks "What does that mean Master Komari?"

Cain smiled feeling proud inside and said "In due time you will understand young one, all of you will understand."

He stands back up when Mattis suggests "Perhaps when I am done training the younglings we can go and celebrate your return with a couple of drinks."

"I thank you for the offer friend but now is not the best time, right now I need to see Skywalker. Do you know where he is?"

"Skywalker? I believe he is in the grand library the last time I heard."

Cain nods to that and says "Thank you, I will head there now, perhaps another time."

"Perhaps another time" Mattis responded before he walks away with the children close behind.

Komari watched his friend walk away for a moment before turning away and begun making his way to Skywalker in the temple's library.

About twenty minutes had passed when he finally reaches the temple's library, where all of the Jedi archives are stored and documented, and when he enters the library the first person he sees was another one of his old friends and former tutor, Jedi Librarian Jocasta Nu.

The old woman looked over to see the Cerean approaching her and greeted him "Cain Komari it has been a while, I suppose you are here for Lador?"

"Not this time Jocasta, I've come to seek Skywalker. Do you know where he is?"

Nu turned around and pointed her finger to the far end of the library near a set of consoles "He's over there but I'm afraid he's been there ever since young Padawan Tano has left. The poor thing, perhaps you can lift his spirit."

"Funny, of all the stories I have heard it seemed that his spirit has always been up. I will do what I can Lady Jocasta."

The librarian gave a warm gentle smile and walked away to tend to her other duties while Komari made his way through the library until he spotted a terminal currently occupied by a tall human male with brown hair and wearing a dark blue outfit, brown boots, and brown hand gloves. There was an empty chair close by so Cain used the force to bring it over and sat himself down by the distracted Jedi Knight as he looks through different articles on the terminal screen.

"Skywalker" Cain said greeting him.

"Cain, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?" Anakin said not taking his eyes off the terminal screen.

"I understand that you are facing complications about your former padawan."

"And I take it you're here to cheer me up, sorry Komari but I don't think drinks will help me."

"I am here to at least give you some closure in regards to Ahsoka."

That grabbed Skywalker's undivided attention when he turns to the Cerean and ask "Closure? What do you mean? Is she hurt?"

"Calm yourself she is fine, I just spoke with her yesterday. I have information regarding her and her new acquaintance."

Komari pulls out his small hologram communicator and shows Skywalker a hologram of what appeared to him as a large battle droid unlike anything he seen, he could only ask "What. Is that?"

"A soldier of dangerous proportions that is allied with neither the Republic nor the Separatists."

"I've never seen armor like that, it's sort of like a clone's but this one's different . . ."

"That is because no one has seen this kind of soldier before, a SPARTAN."

"SPARTAN? Whatever that is it can't be good. So what is this thing capable of?"

"Why don't I just show you, I've recorded my first encounter with this being on Dantooine, here."

He begins playing a holographic recording of him fighting Longarm in a fast paced brawl throwing punches left and right but eventually the towering metal giant won, despite Cain dodging nearly every throw and landed plenty of his own onto the seemingly invincible soldier.

The recording ended as Cain adds "And his warship is something a warmonger could only dream of. It single handedly destroyed a separatist frigate in two salvos from what I can only assume was its two forward magnetically charged cannons."

"What is it called?"

"The _Vanguard_ . . . supposedly it is a destroyer unlike any I have ever seen."

"And this SPARTAN, what's his name?"

"We don't know of his true name but as far as I know he goes by the name Longarm."

That name made something click in the back of Anakin's head as if though he remembered a name like that, for a moment he had no clue until he remembered what Master Obi-wan had said about the separatist attack on Toydaria, "I remember a name like that, Kenobi mentioned someone named Longarm that was one heck of a fighter, from what I heard he took on General Grievous in hand-to-hand combat and survived without a scratch."

"Then he is stronger than we thought" Cain says now concerned for Ahsoka's safety.

Skywalker then asked "What could Ahsoka be doing with someone like Longarm?"

"That is something she was rather unclear of herself, but there is no doubt that she is clearly way in over her head."

"What can I do about it? She's no longer part of the order and I think it's still too early for me to be back in her life."

"I know that Skywalker, but she is in danger and she needs you. Find Longarm and confront him, I hope you will use your words to persuade him but I believe I know you better, all I can say is do not underestimate him."

"I don't even know where to look. If you said you talked to them yesterday then they could be anywhere in the galaxy by now."

Komari places his hand on Skywalker's shoulder and says "Then I wish you the best of luck. Oh and I nearly forgot, there was another man I came across that seems to pose another danger to Ahsoka and even Longarm."

"Who?"

"A Mandalorian by the name of Granor Kahn, Longarm claims to have killed him but I still sensed his utter rage and hatred even when we left the system. If he is still alive then no doubt he will hold a grudge against the SPARTAN, I'd advise caution."

"Thanks Cain, now if you'll excuse me, I have a togruta to find."

Komari nodded and gave Skywalker a gentle pat on the shoulder before standing up and walk away towards the entrance of the library. Anakin then began to ponder on how to find this Longarm when his first thought came to Kenobi, who was currently aboard his flagship planning an assault on a separatist shipyard, and decides to use the terminal to contact him. He presses several keys and switches resulting in the screen to change stating for him to please wait as it tries to send a live feed transmission to the _Vigilance_.

It was only a few minutes later did the screen change showing his old master and his right hand man, CC-2224 or 'Cody', Kenobi asks "Anakin I hope you have a reasonable explanation as to interrupt my briefing."

"Sorry Master" Skywalker said with his casual grin which caused Obi-wan to say "Anakin I know that look, what do you have on your mind?"

"Oh nothing Obi-wan, I'm thinking about aiding you in the upcoming attack on the separatist shipyard. You could use all the help you can get."

"Are your men ready to head out so soon after Cato Neimodia? It hasn't been a week since they returned to Coruscant."

"I'm sure Rex will have the men ready in a day and I believe Admiral Yularen is waiting for my return to the fleet."

Kenobi pondered for a moment knowing the shipyard will be heavily guarded, even with the help of Longarm and Ahsoka it will still be difficult, he eventually said "Very well Anakin, I'll send Yularen the coordinates of our staging grounds. We'll also be expecting outside help from Ahsoka and her new friend."

Skywalker acted surprised "Ahsoka? And by friend I suppose you mean that Longarm guy as well right?"

"Indeed, she said something about them acquiring extra firepower so hopefully it'll help."

"I'll be sure to make my way there as soon as possible Master."

"See to it that you do, in the meantime I will see about making a new plan of attack with your forces. Kenobi out."

The transmission ended leaving the screen blank when he stood from his chair and started making his way out of the library as he contacts Captain Rex and begins relaying orders to him. No matter what it had to take, he was now more than willing to save Ahsoka's life from this new dangerous entity.

[UNSC _Vanguard_, Slipstream Space]

Aboard the destroyer, deck fifteen ,cafeteria 2-B, Longarm and Ahsoka were both sitting at a table across from each other as they ate lunch together while Percival was hard at work regulating the power flow from Tano's docked cruiser on the starboard side to the _Vanguard's_ primary fusion drives propelling the destroyer through slipspace.

Tano took another bite of her meal and asked "Mm this is pretty good . . . what is this?"

Longarm took another spoonful of wheat rice before looking at her meal and said "Moa steak."

"What's a moa?" she asks.

"A moa is a large flightless bird found on our fortress world, Reach. Eventually after initial discovery, they became another source of food for humanity shipping them across UNSC space for repopulation and farming."

She takes another bite before asking "Well this is definitely better than Republic rations."

The SPARTAN became curious "What do they have?"

"Oh not much, mainly just tasteless squares of protein supplements and fruit additives. It's weird to think we're so more advanced than you and yet you have better tasting rations on your ships."

He chuckled "Hmhm, well I guess that's a perk for us UNSC. Say, what's your favorite food?"

Ahsoka didn't pay attention as she savored the last bite of moa before asking "Sorry what was that?"

Longarm repeated himself "What's your favorite thing to eat?"

"Hmm . . . I'm going to have to go with gatro egg omelet with diced roba and bellassan peppers, with a cup of jawa juice."

"Huh so you're a breakfast kind of person just like me."

"What do you like?"

"Well I believe it would be moa patties served with gravy and buttermilk biscuit and eggs."

"Huh so we do have something in common. That's a first."

"Agreed" Longarm said as he takes his last bite of his meal.

Eventually Percival spoke on the ship's intercom system "Sierra-121, I believe some of our aerial assets are in need of repairs down in the hangar as well as space capable craft that could indeed help us in the days ahead."

This prompted Ahsoka to ask "Speaking of space capable craft, what do we have in the hangar?"

The SPARTAN placed his helmet back on and stood up with his tray in hand saying "We have two F-99 UCAVs but they only work in atmosphere, we also have a D77 Pelican dropship as well as that other dropship those boarders used, and for fighter support we have one YSS-1000 Sabre Starfighter."

"You have another fighter besides that?" Ahsoka asks as she picks up her tray and follows him.

He looks down at her asking "No. What do you mean by that?"

"In case you didn't know I'm a great pilot, my former master is an ace in fighter combat."

"Well that's good to hear but the Sabre is all we have for now, if it helps any it's a two-seater."

That comment did not help when Ahsoka spoke with some sarcasm "Oh great, I love being a backseat pilot."

Longarm then suggests as he and she place their empty trays on the cafeteria counter for someone to clean later "Maybe you can buy a fighter with the money Senator Amidala gave us for our work on Toydaria."

The two began walking towards the cafeteria exit as she states "Not really, we have enough money to buy parts for a ship such as weapons and maybe even some shielding if we're lucky."

"Why not just buy an old fighter and we'll give it a good tune up."

"I guess so . . ." she says as the two walk out of the cafeteria.

Longarm then said "Alright then, I'm heading down to the hangar to do some repairs. I'm aware that you haven't been given a proper tour of the ship so I'll leave you to Percival."

"Um . . . alright then" she responded unenthusiastically.

The SPARTAN gave a subtle nod and begins walking away moments before Percival said "Well then, let's have a good look around the ship shall we? Note that some rooms and sectors are restricted for your safety."

"Like which room?"

"Well for starters the engine room where we keep the slipspace drive, since we're in transit we can't go in there due to the massive amounts of radiation being emitted from the drive itself."

"Ok Percy, lead the way."

The AI responded with a cheerful "Gladly."

Ahsoka took one last look at Longarm still walking away before Percival says "If you'll kindly head towards the aft I can show you the ship's training room where our crewmembers would normally go to stay fit for service."

[Jedi Temple, Coruscant]

Cain Komari was seen walking back to the landing pad where the _Viper Infinite_ was when a protocol droid with a silver chassis approaches him with a tablet and reports "Master Komari, your ship has been loaded with the supplies and all damaged components have been repaired as requested."

The Cerean nodded "Thank you" and begins to walk towards his ship when the droid stops him "Um Master, there also seems to be a disturbance aboard the ship between your two apprentices, something regarding 'old unsettled business'."

Cain took a moment to think what the droid meant by that but soon quickly understood what was happening and said "Thank you, I'll handle the matter myself."

"As you wish Master, have a productive day" the droid said before leaving letting Komari make his way into the Consular-class cruiser.

Once inside he made his way to the ship's storage bay and found Agos tied up against a crate and nearly unconscious with Eva standing next to him with his electro-staff in her hands.

Komari asks "What is the meaning of this? I thought we had settled the matter long ago."

Eva states "Forgive us Master, but it is understandingly difficult to bury the hatches between us. You should know that as well."

"Yes I do but now is not the time for petty squabbles to take hold, we must see to it that this Longarm and the _Vanguard_ no longer poses a threat to this galaxy."

"You're normally not the one to take such actions Master, what do you have in mind?"

"I have encouraged Skywalker to find his former padawan and see about this matter himself, so this is now out of our hands. For now we must do what we have done always, find the sith slaver and bring him to justice."

He then uses the force to undo the tying around Agos's body and then gives his orders "Eva take us to Tantooine and Agos see to it that our cargo is secured."

Both apprentices bowed saying "Yes Master" and went about their business.

The two leave leaving Komari alone to ponder if Skywalker would be enough to deal with Longarm, but he can only hope for now and wait for the results.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	14. Preparations

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 14**

"**Preparations"**

[UNSC _Vanguard_, slipstream space]

[Two days later]

Longarm was in the hangar bay replacing the Sabre's igniting coupling, he's been in the hangar repairing vehicles from the crash on Saleucami while salvaging from any craft that was beyond saving. He was underneath the craft as he climbed his way back out and sat up grabbing the tablet next to him and take a look at the fighter's diagnostics, everything seemed to be in order for now.

He starts standing back up on his feet when he asks "Percival, where's Ahsoka? I haven't seen her since I left the cafeteria."

The AI responded "She is currently washing herself in the shower room, deck nine."

"Thank you Percival, I don't need the details" the SPARTAN responded.

"I understand, all things considered she is very curious about us, not just you and I, I mean humanity and our war with the Covenant. She even asked about things that were considered highly confidential, including a certain program you're familiar with."

Longarm was looking down at the tablet checking on the other space craft asks "What did you say about it."

"Nothing that would compromise its secrecy, I simply misinformed her about the candidates stating that you were an orbital drop shock trooper that volunteered for the program. Permission to speak freely?"

"Percival it's been you and me for the last few years, what's on your mind?"

The AI hesitated for a moment to speak his piece until he finally said "Sooner or later she is going to find out about the SPARTAN Program and what it did to you and the others, when that day comes what will you say?"

The SPARTAN-ll stopped what he was doing and thought for a moment, it's true that Ahsoka will eventually find out the truth about the SPARTAN-ll Program and he won't have the slightest clue as to what she'll do afterwards, he needed an answer when the day comes and said with honesty "I don't know . . ."

"Well when you do, please let me know . . ."

Longarm nodded "Will do."

On deck nine, Ahsoka had just finished showering and came out of the shower room when she asks "Hey Percy you there?"

It took a couple of seconds before the AI answered "Yes I am here, I was speaking with Longarm down in the hangar after he brought the Sabre to optimal functionality."

"That's good to hear, hey can you show me the way to the hangar? That's the only place I haven't been to that isn't restricted."

"Of course . . . start heading towards the bow."

Ahsoka began making her way as Percival instructs when he asks "Might I ask you something?"

"Sure Percy, what is it?"

"That's it, Percy, why do you call me that? Not to sound offended I'm just curious."

"I come up with nicknames with those I can call a friend."

"Can you give me some examples?"

"Sure, I used to call my former master, Anakin Skywalker, Sky Guy. His astromech droid, R2-D2, occasionally called Artooey."

"And so you call me Percy . . . even when my formal designation is Percival."

"That's right, you got the idea" Tano said with a gentle smile.

"I see . . . and what of Longarm?"

Tano hadn't really thought about the SPARTAN but she eventually says "I think Longarm fits him perfectly. On the topic of names, what's Longarm's real name?"

The AI responded with slight delay "I am not at liberty to say, only he can tell you his real name when he feels the time is right."

She then asks with curiosity "Ok . . . so what can you tell me about him during this war with the Covenant?"

"Well he was very reclusive around the other SPARTANs except for a few, Jorge-052 and a Rose-077, but he's an excellent soldier on the field when he works alone or with those he can truly trust."

Ahsoka reaches for one her pouches on her waist and pulls out a photo of Longarm and the larger SPARTAN with a heavy machine gun, she holds up the photo to a camera next to her and asks "Which one is this?"

Percival took a second to examine the photo and answer "That would be Jorge-052, heavy weapons specialists."

"So these two had been through quite a alot together . . ."

"All the way since Arcadia near the beginning of the war."

"What happened on Arcadia?"

"It's the usual just like every other human colony world, the Covenant attacked and began killing everyone that wasn't their own. SPARTAN-121 and SPARTAN-052 were there along with SPARTAN Red Team to engage the initial waves of invaders, eventually Red Team departed to secure several evacuation shuttles while Longarm and Jorge went about searching for any survivors and eliminating any hostiles they came across. Luckily the Covenant were pushed out of the system and the two were redeployed separately elsewhere. The Covenant would return to Arcadia eighteen years later and glassed the planet killing whoever decided to remain there."

Ahsoka held the photo in her hands looking down at Jorge and his bearded smile and asks "Where's Jorge now?"

Precival states "We don't know _currently_ but our latest records before the incident states he was stationed on our fortress world of Reach with SPARTAN Noble Team. That was little over five years ago, that's when we arrived here."

Ahsoka went silent for a moment taking a turn towards an elevator shaft before she asks "Have you ever thought about returning back to your own galaxy, finish the fight there?"

"We have, and we worked hard to try and achieve those goals. But as time passes on we began to realize that there was no going home for us. There were too many variables that posed a great danger to the ship, it was certain suicide."

Ahsoka eventually came across the elevator shaft that just opened up revealing a mechanical lift inside where she steps inside and Percival began lowering the lift, she says "So you guys are stuck here with no one to help you."

"Wrong" Percival said with some hope in his voice "We're stuck here but at least we have you with us. I greatly appreciate it and I'm sure Longarm does as well."

"Yeah, I guess I'm glad I met Longarm back on Coruscant when I did. I don't know where I would be right now if I hadn't."

"So it's safe to say that if it weren't for either of us, we wouldn't be right here at this moment right now."

"Yeah . . . I guess we're all lucky."

The lift came to a stop and the bulkhead hatch opens in front of her showing a short tunnel leading to another hatch to the hangar, she begins to walk through the corridor when she finally asks "So what does Longarm think about me?"

Percival seemed confused when he asks "What do you mean by that? Surely you understand that his augmentations limits him from having any sexual—"

She quickly stops him "No! I don't mean anything like that! I mean does he see me as a good friend or someone he can rely on?"

"Well . . . I really don't have a say in that matter. Personally I trust you if that helps."

Tano eventually reaches the door and stops before asking "Thanks Percy, um not to go in a completely different direction from our subject, but seeing that you're an AI inside a ship loaded with cameras around every corner, you can see just about anything that happens in and out of the ship right?"

"That is correct . . . are you concerned about something?" Percival asks not sure where Ahsoka was going with this.

"Is it UNSC regulation to have cameras installed in the shower rooms?"

"Well . . ." the AI states while rather stumped by a question such as this "For security measures all rooms are monitored . . . but in terms of video there is no cameras inside the shower rooms."

The togruta sighed in relief saying "Thanks Percy, that's all I really wanted to know."

"I didn't know Jedi could be so . . ." the AI stopped for a moment thinking of the right word before saying "Self-conscious of themselves."

"Well I am a woman right?" Tano says trying to make a point.

"True . . . I suppose there is that. To me you just seemed to be the . . . um" the AI stops himself from saying anything more.

"To be the what Percy?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing . . . I was going to say something but now I refuse to do so."

She crosses her arms "You were going to say the careless type weren't you?"

"No . . . more like the carefree type."

"Right . . ." she said rolling her eyes and step towards the door.

Ahsoka proceeds to walk through the hatch when it opened and found herself standing on top of a raised catwalk overlooking the hangar floor below, she looked around to notice the LAAT gunship settled next to a large green craft which is presumed to be a dropship on the port side of the hangar. On the starboard side he sees two smaller black sleek aircrafts with no visible cockpit, Longarm currently working on them, and a much larger dark grey angular space craft but was smaller than the gunship, she could assume that was the Sabre. She starts walking towards the starboard side where she finds a set of steps leading down to the floor and makes her way to Longarm who was currently working on the wiring of one of the black sleek aircraft.

"Hey Longarm" she says with calm.

The SPARTAN glanced behind him to see her there and said "Hey, can you go to the front of the UCAV and kneel down in front of the optical package, it looks like a set of cameras."

"Sure" Tano says before walking to the front of the craft and kneels down where she finds a set of camera lens glowing red and following her every movement where she asks "Now what?"

He responds "Now just move your hand left and right, tell me if the optics follows it."

She does as she is told and starts moving her right hand back and forth watching the optical package follow it back and forth as expected, she then said "Yeah it's following my hand."

"Ok good" he says as he puts a black panel back over the exposed circuits and sealed the opening shut.

Ahsoka stands back up and steps over next to the SPARTAN when she says "It reminds me a lot of those droid fighters."

"You can say that these are the same thing, but we don't call them droids, just drones."

"What's the difference?"

"There isn't any" Longarm says as he gestures her to follow him towards the Sabre Starfighter.

"So this is your only fighter?" Ahsoka asks when they stopped next to it.

The SPARTAN rolls over a ladder set next to the cockpit and began climbing up to it stating "Yeah. Originally designed for orbital defense, these fighters were supposed to be able to better compete with the more advanced Seraph Starfighters the Covenant used against us."

Ahsoka steps over next to the craft and laid her hand on the titanium plating and asks "What's it go for weapons?"

"Two M1024 30mm MLA autocannons as primary and two missile racks located in the wings, each carrying Medusa-class homing missiles."

"Engines?"

"One thruster on each wing pus two more in the fuselage."

Ahsoka watches the SPARTAN enter the front seat before she climbs up the stairs and look inside the cockpit of the UNSC fighter, switches and levers decorated the entire set up, Longarm was checking the flight systems making sure everything would run smoothly.

He turns his head around to see her looking inside the two seater cockpit and said "Go ahead and take the other seat, get a feel for it."

Tano shrugs and climbs into the back seat behind the SPARTAN and asks "So what am I in charge of?"

"You'll be my avionics operator, working with radar and navigation."

"So I'm pretty much your eyes and navigator . . . that sounds like fun" she says sarcastically.

He turns his head around asking "You want to fly this thing against a swarm of droid fighters?"

She sighs ". . . what do you want me to do back here?"

"There's an onboard tutorial system, use that to familiarize yourself with the other equipment. There's a button on the dashboard to your left, it should be blinking right now."

Ahsoka looks to her left and found a blinking yellow button, she presses it in which a female voice then spoke with a calm tone "Welcome and thank you for using the YSS-1000 Sabre Starfighter Tutorial Program, you may call me Cierra."

"Hi . . . Cierra . . ." Tano says unsure of what to think about the tutorial program.

"Greetings . . . You are currently positioned in the auxiliary pilot seat where you will be in charge of monitoring the onboard radar guidance systems and navigational arrays. Are you ready to begin?"

She takes a look over Longarm's shoulder seeing him pressing various buttons and flipping switches before answering "Yes Cierra."

"Splendid!" the voice said cheerfully "We will begin with familiarizing yourself with each console and their purpose."

[An hour later]

"Thank you for using the YSS-1000 Sabre Starfighter Tutorial Program. You have now completed the program and are now ready to fight for Earth and all her colonies" Cierra said before switching herself off until she was needed again.

Ahsoka sat back in her seat and let out a sigh of boredom and relief, she then looks over to see Longarm now standing on the hangar floor looking down at a data pad in his hands and said "Please don't make me do that again . . ."

The SPARTAN chuckled "You think the co-pilot tutorial was bad, guess what I had to go through as the main pilot."

The togruta started climbing her way out of the cockpit and when she got onto the floor she asks "So what's this 'Earth' Cierra mentioned?"

Longarm finishes up whatever he was doing on the pad and sat it down on a small rolling table tray next to him before saying "Earth, it's the cradle world of humanity. And one of our best secrets we kept from the Covenant for over two decades" he then seemed somewhat distracted and distraught as he says "Well . . . all for we know now the Covenant found it and burned every inch of it to glass . . ."

Ahsoka sensed his fear and anger swell up again, she steps next to the SPARTAN and said "You don't know that . . ."

He stood there for a moment looking down at himself before saying "You're right I don't . . . and I guess we never will . . ."

She then lays her right hand on his left shoulder pad and said "Look, the only thing you can do right now is help Obi-wan with the shipyard we're heading to. Maybe then we can figure out a way to get you back home and fighting the Covenant once again."

"Yeah maybe . . . but what about you?" he asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what will you do if we leave? You have family right?"

"Honestly I don't know where my family is . . . maybe, I can come with you."

Longarm looks over at her and asks "You're being serious right?"

"Honestly I wish I wasn't . . . but I don't think I have anything else here, in this galaxy, maybe it's time to start a new life elsewhere."

The SPARTAN then turned his attention from himself and Earth onto Ahsoka when he turns and place his two large gloved hands on the young togruta's shoulders saying "Ahsoka, trust me when I say this, you do not want to do that."

Tano started to become confused "What? What do you mean? I can help you win your war."

"I know you can but you don't know what you have until its gone. Trust me when I say it has happened to me when I was little. If there was a chance for Percival and I to go home then we'll do it but only because we know what's at stake, our home and our people, but you still have something here. You just don't know it yet."

Ahsoka had never seen this side of Longarm before, sensitive about another's life and understanding what it means to lose something, she backs away saying "Alright . . . I understand . . . I never thought SPARTANs can be so . . ." she tries to think of a word but nothing came to mind.

He states "Thoughtful of others?"

"Yeah . . ."

The two fell silent for several moments before Longarm calls out "Percival, how much longer before we reach the shipyard?"

The AI responded "Within the next twenty four hours. I recommend you two get your rest and prepare for combat when the time comes."

Ahsoka and Longarm nodded to that and started making their way to the lift that will take them back up to deck five where their living quarters was placed. The two didn't say another word to each other as they made their way back and get the rest they need before the critical battle ahead.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	15. Machines and might

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 15**

"**Machines and might"**

[Republic Jedi Cruiser _Vigilance_, Null Sector]

[Seventeen hours later]

Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Commander Cody, and Captain Rex all stood around a central holotable in the war room showing a hologram of the massive separatist shipyard built around an even larger asteroid like a ring held in place by gravitational drives and a rather large defensive fleet consisting of eight Munificent-class Frigates, three Recusant-class Light Destroyers, and one Providence-class Carrier/Destroyer up scaled to dreadnought classifications and armed to the teeth with heavy weaponry well capable of ripping a Venator-class Star Destroyer with ease.

Kenobi had his hand over his beard as he ponders about where Ahsoka and Longarm could be with their supposedly 'heavy firepower' while Anakin lays out the plan to the two clone commanders "Alright we're here to take the shipyards that provides the separatists with their destroyers and use it for our own needs, the plan is simple, Obi-wan and I will engage the enemy fleet and clear the way for you to board the station via dropships."

Rex had to comment with his usual humorous tone "Sir when it comes to you, it's always a simple plan."

"That's how we get it done Rex, your jobs will be to secure the two main hangars, here and here" he says as he points out two massive hangar bays on opposite ends of the station "From there Obi-wan and I will join you in taking the rest of the station."

Cody comments "Seems solid enough . . . what about that backup I've heard about?"

Kenobi answers "It does seem they are running a little late."

Anakin states "Well, if I know snips then she'll pull through for us. Right now we got our orders."

"Right well then we best be underway" Kenobi says as he and Cody make their way through a hatch leading to the bridge's command center.

Anakin waves to the captain "Come on Rex."

"Right behind you General."

Once Anakin and Rex returned to their flagship via shuttle, the republic fleet, consisting of five Venator-class Star Destroyers and three Arquitens-class Escort Cruisers, jumped into hyperspace to finally engage the separatist fleet and claim the shipyards for the Republic.

[Twenty seven minutes later, Separatist flagship _Abdominal_]

Aboard the Providence-class Dreadnought, Captain Mar Tuuk, a neimoidian male with a light body build that was finally released back into service despite his failure to maintain a blockade over Ryloth after Skywalker rammed the damaged Jedi cruiser _Defender_ into his Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship _Procurer_, was seated in his command chair of his new warship waiting for the anticipated Republic fleet to arrive out of hyperspace.

A B1 battle droid walks over to him and reports "Sir, we've detected republic ships coming out of hyperspace."

Tuuk asks "Good, what is their strength?"

"Five cruiser classes as well as three escort classes."

"And . . . the commander?"

"A pair of Jedi sir, one Obi-wan Kenobi and one Anakin Skywalker."

"Skywalker!?" Tuuk asks almost surprised by what the droid just said, then he seemed to enjoy these news rather well as he has longed for a rematch against the Jedi "Good . . ."

Soon enough the Republic fleet jumped into visual range moments before another droid reports "Sir! The enemy fleet is holding position at eighty seven kilometers, shall we engage?"

"No, we let them come to us. But first I would like to contact Skywalker . . ."

[Jedi Cruiser _Savior_]

Anakin was in the cruiser's main hangar prepping his Eta-2 Actis-class Interceptor for launch along with his trusted companion R2-D2 when Admiral Yularen contacted him on his wrist-mounted comlink "Sir we're being hailed by the separatist flagship, he says he'll only speak with you."

"Put it through Admiral" the Jedi says as he prepares to enter his cockpit.

Tuuk's voice came through "Anakin Skywalker, I did not expect to see you again after all this time."

"Mar Tuuk, what a surprise to hear your voice again, I was hoping you had gone down with your ship like a real captain does."

"No . . . as you can clearly tell I am very well alive and much eager for a rematch between our two fleets."

"Well wait no more, because you're about to get one."

"Good . . . Good . . . I will hope this will be more of a challenge for both of us" Tuuk finishes before cutting the transmission.

R2 moves over to Anakin and made a concerned _whoo_ before he kneels down and said "Don't worry buddy, we'll pull through just like every other mission."

A clone officer's voice then echoed through the ship's intercom system "All pilots prepare for launch! I repeat all pilots prepare for launch!"

Skywalker starts climbing to his cockpit saying "Well here we go Artoo, you ready?"

R2 made a series of cheerful beeps before activating its leg-mounted rocket boosters and inserted itself into the fighter's astromech slot on the dorsal port wing.

Admiral Yularen's voice spoke through the intercoms "We're opening the hangar bay doors, General Skywalker has the lead."

Skywalker's fighter began lifting itself off the hangar floor and flew out the atmospheric barriers into the central runway along with the cruiser's complement of ARC-170 Starfighters, BTL-B Y-Wing Bombers, and Z-95 Headhunter Starfighters. The fighters, squadron by squadron, flew out of the central hangar bay door on the dorsal bow along with the other cruisers' complement of fighters and bombers with Kenobi leading his group out of the _Vigilance._

"You ready Obi-wan?" Skywalker asks over the comms.

His master responded "Unlike you Anakin, I rather be standing on the bridge."

"Oh come on Master, flying can't be that bad."

"Easy for you to say, you're the ace pilot here."

A clone fighter pilot reports "We got fighters inbound."

Another orders "Lock S-foils into attack position."

The Jedi followed those orders alongside the many other pilots extending their wing flaps into attack positon as they began to get visual of the large swarm of vulture droids and tri-droids barreling their way.

"Here we go!" Skywalker calls out to the other pilots before the droid fighters began firing.

The next moment droid and clone fighters clashed flying past one another and entering into vicious dogfights all across the battlespace, military chatter soon flooded all channels of communications as the republic capital ships move in to engage the separatist warships with their heavy turbo laser cannons.

Admiral Yularen aboard the _Savior_ orders "All cannons target the closest separatist frigate, full barrage."

As ordered, the Venator's eight dual heavy turbo laser turrets faced forward and unleashed a hellish barrage of heavy blue laser fire concentrated on the nearest frigate, each round slammed against the frigate's standing shields and began to hold as the crew diverted all power to the forward shields. The separatist fleet then retaliated with heavy cannon fire directed on the entire republic fleet sending a storm of red laser fire back onto the Venators and Arquitens cruisers.

By this time Skywalker had already shot down four droid fighters when he contacts Captain Rex and order "Rex we've already have the fighters distracted, start your attack on the shipyard."

"Right away General!" the captain responded which was soon followed up with LAAT gunships coming out of the cruisers as they make their trek to the shipyards.

Admiral Yularen stood aboard the bridge of the cruiser _Savior_ when an clone officer from one of the crew pits on either side of the bridge's central walkway reports "Sir, we're detecting an unusual anomaly off our starboard bow at twenty kilometers."

Yularen turns and asks "Anomaly? What do you mean?"

"Unclear sir."

The admiral walks over to the starboard side of his command bridge and looks out the view port finding nothing in the distance until he caught a glimpse of something. A small electrical surge out in the emptiness of space like two blue bolts lightning just occurred and suddenly this large spiraling blue portal appeared with a pitch black center indicating nothing and only moments later did this escort size vessel comes streaming out of the portal at flank speed. From what he could tell, the vessel was coated black, presumably for camouflage against the blackness of space, and featured a bit of an angular design much like republic warships but the vessel did not match any class of ship he has ever seen before.

He contacts Skywalker "General Skywalker, an unidentified vessel had just emerged from a portal off our starboard bow, we cannot confirm whether it is friendly or not."

Anakin responded "Roger that Admiral, I'm breaking off to investigate."

But Kenobi objects "No the gunships need you to cover them, I'll go check out our new guest."

After that Kenobi pulls his Starfighter away from the fighting and makes his way to the unknown vessel but as he grew closer he started to make out weapon emplacements and missile pods, but what really got his attention were the bold white letters along the broadside bow, _Vanguard_.

It was then when he began receiving a transmission from inside the warship near the ventral bow, at first it came in garbled but it was quickly cleaned up by an unknown source "Mas—r –nobi? It's m—Ahsoka."

Kenobi sighed in relief "I hear you Tano, so good for you to join us."

He soon sees a large grey bulky fighter craft launch itself from the hangar below the ship moments before he heard Longarm's voice report "This is Sabre-1 we are on station, ready to assist."

The Jedi maneuvers his fighter and comes alongside the sabre and looks in the cockpit to see the SPARTAN in the front seat and Ahsoka behind him, he asks "So this is the firepower you mentioned, I'm not sure if it'll help against an entire fleet."

Longarm was going to make the Jedi Master eat those words when he contacts Percival aboard the _Vanguard_ "Percival, set primary target on hostile frigate in grid G-5, MAC rounds have been authorized, fire for effect."

Kenobi turned his head to the destroyer behind him and watched it line up its two forward cannons to its designated target and almost immediately launched a massive metal slug over the two fighters sending it hurtling towards a separatists frigate with its starboard shields down, he watched as the round violently slam into the side of the frigate's hull and violently tore a hole through the entire ship before passing out the port side and slam into the upper armor of a Recusant-class Destroyer where the impact caused massive structural damage due to the massive amounts of kinetic energy that was still behind the slug. The frigate began to tilt forward as if it began to lose power and orientation when the second MAC round was fired, this time targeted towards the aft of the frigate, where it impacted and tore another hole through one of the frigate's reactor chambers causing a chain reaction of explosions and resulted in one final massive explosion splitting the ship in half while rocking the other vessels that were around it.

The Jedi watched in shock as the ship slowly fell apart from the destroyer's devastating firepower and said "Well then . . . I take back everything I just said . . . Have your ship coordinate with the fleet, we have some droid fighters to deal with ourselves."

The SPARTAN nodded and said "You heard him Percival, link up with the fleet and give them fire support."

"Acknowledged Longarm fly safe, for Ahsoka's sake."

"Thanks Percy" Tano said with a gentle smile.

"I'll follow your lead Kenobi" Longarm said as he falls in behind Obi-wan's fighter.

"Right this outta be fun" the Jedi replies as he sets off towards the raging warzone of fighters with the sabre following close behind and the _Vanguard_ making its way to the republic fleet.

As the two fighters make their way to the battle Ahsoka looks at the consoles around her and looks up at Longarm in front of her asking "So what do people say when they fly with you?"

Longarm kept facing forward watching the battle ahead of him and said "I don't know. They normally don't tell me."

Kenobi warns "Careful, fighters heading our way."

The targeting screen in front of Longarm immediately lit up with seven red squares each highlighting a droid fighter, he reports "I have visual, switching to missiles, acquiring lock."

Two racks loaded with three Medusa-class homing missiles each extends from the dorsal hull of the main fuselage and were ready to fire when the SPARTAN said "Target lock, firing!" launching four missiles out of the racks sending the roaring to their individually locked targets with trails of smoke following them.

Obi-wan watched the four missiles make their way before four explosion flashed in the distance signaling they had struck their target however a vulture droid and two tri-droid fighters were still coming in prompting the Jedi to let loose with his dual blaster cannons mounted onto his interceptor, Longarm follows suit and switches back to his two 30mm autocannons and began firing in small bursts sending high velocity rounds downrange. Eventually Kenobi scores a kill when a pair of bolts slams into a tri-droid's central fuselage sending it spiraling out of control before exploding and Longarm scores a hit on the vulture droid as a slug tore through the droid's right wing cutting it clean off and sending the droid barreling straight towards the sabre.

Ahsoka cries out "Look out!" as the droid rapidly drew closer.

The SPARTAN quickly performs an aileron roll passing the disable droid harmlessly then immediately made a break right tailing the remaining tri-droid that quickly took off realizing its odds will stand better if it had backup. He pushes the throttle lever to full power causing the four thruster engines to burn brighter as he closes the gap between himself and the seemingly superior fighter as it tried to flee. The droid performed all sorts of rolls and maneuvers in an attempt to elude the SPARTAN but it was hopeless as the sabre stayed on target not letting up on the autocannons until several rounds struck the fighter and sent it burning down in flames but by this time two vulture droids gave chase and began firing away at the UNSC superiority fighter.

Ahsoka kept her eyes on the radar screen in front of her and states "We're not losing them!"

A bolt of energy slams against the sabre's right wing prompting the SPARTAN to call out "Report!"

She answers "Impact on the right wing, shields down to thirty seven percent!"

"Hold on!" the SPARTAN firmly states before pulling the thruster lever all the way back killing the engines and pull back on the flight control stick sending the fighter into a full loop while holding position allowing the droid fighters to pass by.

He then re-engages the thrusters and tailed the two fighters in another high speed chase filled with ducks, banks, and rolls through space full of starfighters and flak, a clone pilot reports "We're right with you Sabre-1!"

Longarm looks over to his left and found a clone ARC-170 fighter with its wings extended into attack position move into formation alongside the sabre before ordering "You handle that vulture on the left. I'll take the one on the right."

"You got it sir!" the pilot responded before firing off energy bolts towards his designated target while Longarm does the same with his target.

The two allied fighters close in on their targets firing away until the clones made the first kill destroying the vulture outright with their twin blaster cannons but Longarm was still trying to shoot his down while it did a series of twists and turns until it went into a perfect straight line, only to be shot down by a set of blaster fire from somewhere above the sabre. He and Ahsoka looked up to see a Jedi interceptor sporting a gold and light grey color scheme fly pass their cockpit canopy and fall into formation flying alongside the much larger sabre.

Tano looks out the canopy window and spotted her old master inside the interceptor and said "Good to see you again Sky Guy."

"I knew you couldn't stay away from me snips" Skywalker replies humorously.

Ahsoka rolls her eyes with a grin before Longarm asks "So that's your former master . . . he seems nice."

"Yeah . . . a bit bull headed sometimes but he's alright" she comments.

Skywalker then asks "Longarm is it? What's your kill count?"

The SPARTAN answered "Six."

"Ah you're getting sloppy, I already have seven."

Kenobi's voice came through on the comms "The two of you can show off your flying later, right now our bombers are preparing for a run on the warships and they need us to cover them."

"Of course Master, we're on our way" Skywalker said before he turns to Longarm and Ahsoka and said "Race ya'."

Ahsoka grinned "You're on."

Then by cue Longarm sets the thrusters to full power and rocketed upwards towards the small swarm of Y-Wing bombers several kilometers above them with Anakin's interceptor close behind with relative speed and gaining.

Kenobi was flying alongside the force of over thirty bombers and fighters when he soon sees Skywalker and Longarm appear from below and take up their positions on either side of his interceptor, he then looks forward at their intended target, a separatist destroyer carefully safeguarding the flagship _abdominal_, and with most of the droid fighters distracted by clone forces the only thing between them and the destroyer was another frigate with its deflector shields up.

"So good for you three to join us, might I ask who won this little race?" Obi-wan asks.

"Ah you know me Master, I never lose a race" Skywalker said with glee.

"Ooh I don't know . . ." Ahsoka said as if making a point "I think I saw you lose a little power on the last kilometer."

R2 made a series of whoops and beeps prompting Anakin to say "Yeah we decided to let you win."

"Whatever you say Sky Guy" she said with an amused smile.

Longarm on the other hand remained focused on mission and asks "What's our target?"

"That destroyer that's blocking our path to the droid flagship" Kenobi answers.

Anakin adds with disgust "And that slimo Mar Tuuk."

"The only thing standing in the way is that frigate" Ahsoka points out.

The SPARTAN sees the separatist frigate that stood between them and the destroyer and asks "You want to do the honor?"

The togruta grins and contacts Percival "Vanguard Actual this is Sabre-1, requesting fire on seppie frigate at grid H-7, fire for effect. Scrap that rust bucket."

The AI responded "Acknowledged Sabre-1, MAC guns are charged and ready" he then switched to an open channel with all republic vessels "UNSC _Vanguard_ to all Republic ships: MAC rounds are in effect, clear the lane, and we'll light 'em up."

Shortly afterwards from the UNSC destroyer came a hypervelocity MAC round bolting across the distance and slams into the frigate's forward shielding which resulted in the shields to shatter under the tremendous kinetic energy and the round smashes itself into the frigate's two forward-mounted dual heavy turbo laser cannons crippling the ship. A moment later and another six hundred ton slug slams itself into the frigate's command tower essentially vaporizing it and the crew inside resulting in the crippled vessel to fall out of formation as small explosions racked the hull.

Kenobi saw this as their only chance to hit the separatist destroyer, now exposed, and orders "All fighters begin your attack!"

As ordered, the force of thirty some ships kicked their engines into overdrive and raced towards the vulnerable destroyer that was beginning to return fire with defensive turrets and flak batteries hoping to minimize the amount of potential damage by shooting down as many bombers as it possibly can. Bombers and fighters alike dodged and weaved through incoming cruiser fire while at the same time trying to evade the droid fighters that broke off from their previous engagement to save their capital warships. Several clone fighters broke away from the group to hold off any droids while Kenobi, Skywalker, Ahsoka, and Longarm led the way shooting down any obstacles, fighters and such, out of the way with combined fire of blaster fire and 30mm armor piercing rounds.

A clone pilot inside a Y-Wing bomber reports "I have target lock! Torpedoes away!"

One after another, republic bombers delivered their payload of several proton torpedoes each sending them crashing against the destroyer's hull causing heavy damage throughout the ship while fighters peppered the shields to weaken them to a state where the they will be able to inflict structural damage of their own.

Ahsoka began examining the readout of the destroyer's faltering shields until she states "Longarm they're exposed!"

The SPARTAN replied "Acknowledged, I'm making a run on the bridge now."

The sabre breaks out of formation with the Jedi and begins making his solo run on the separatist bridge which was flanked by two quad turbo laser batteries that targeted the UNSC strike craft and began firing away hoping to shoot him down. However Lonagrm ducked and weaved through the enemy fire and launched four more Medusa-class Missiles straight into the command bridge resulting in its ultimate destruction in a massive ball of fire, the sabre was able to pull out in time to avoid getting caught in the explosion.

Admiral Yularen watched, from the _Savior, _the destroyer's hull become racked with explosions and hull breaches as each bomber landed their own devastating blow against it, he then looked over to his right to see the _Vanguard_ holding position just a few hundred meters from his cruiser launch a volley of Archer anti-ship missiles from its numerous pods. The storm of missiles came fast and finished off the destroyer in one last display of explosions causing the two thousand five hundred and forty four meter long vessel to simply wither away under the intense amount of punishment it received.

[Separatist flagship _Abdominal_]

The Neimoidian captain watched in horror his last line of defense waste away under the sheer combined firepower of the Republic Navy and that monstrosity of a warship that already destroyed three of his ships with its forward mounted cannons and vast array of missiles.

A droid reports "Sir. Our ships are awaiting orders."

The captain soon became furious and gave his list of orders "Set all available power to the forward deflector shields and have the rest of the fleet form a defensive perimeter around us. Recall our fighters and destroy those bombers!"

The droid responded "Roger Roger" and walked off.

Tuuk then turned his attention to another droid "You! Call our reinforcements! We will make the Jedi rue the day they make any humiliation out of me!"

"Roger Roger" the droid replied before turning back to its console and ordered "Battlegroup Eleven, Battlegroup Seventeen. Attack formation!"

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	16. Carpe diem

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 16**

**"****Carpe diem"**

[Null Sector]

The republic fleet celebrated as they watched the Recusant-class Destroyer slowly drift away as nothing more than a memory leaving the Separatist flagship _Abdominal_ exposed to attack, Anakin states on the comms "Good work everyone!"

Longarm piloted the sabre back into formation alongside the Jedi after his run on the command bridge when Ahsoka said with a grin "I think that counts as a kill for us Sky Guy, sorry but I think you lost this round."

"Oh the battle isn't over yet snips" he replies as he looks ahead at the enemy flagship.

Obi-wan orders "We still have the momentum here, all fighters push forward to the enemy flagship!"

A chorus of clone squadron leaders acknowledged to that order and formed up behind Kenobi's fighter along with Skywalker and Longarm, it wasn't long before Ahsoka reports "We got more fighters inbound! Coming from below!"

The SPARTAN responded "Roger that, we're moving to engage."

A clone fighter squadron leader adds "This is Blitzer we got your back."

The sabre pulls out of formation along with a squadron of seven ARC-170s and two Z-95 fighters and started making their way to a swarm of vulture droids and tri-droids on fast approach to take out the bombers.

Ahsoka orders "All fighters keep tight formation."

"Roger that Sabre-1" the squadron leader said before telling his fellow pilots "C'mon you whiners, let's get dirty!"

"Switching to missiles, acquiring lock . . ." Longarm reports as he begins to lock on to the incoming fighters, a few seconds later did the targeting screen report it has successful locks prompting the SPARTAN to say "Target locked, firing!" and launch four homing missiles towards the droids.

The missiles roared to their targets each resulting in a droid's destruction in a bright flash followed up with dense clouds of dust and debris, the remaining droids came fast through the clouds firing away while the UNSC and republic fighters returned fire in a deadly exchange of laser and gunfire. Longarm ducked and rolled avoiding getting hit by blaster fire and oncoming collisions, a vulture manages to perform a rapid Split-S maneuver and begun tailing the sabre while the others engaged the clones in ferocious dogfights.

Ahsoka looks at the radar screen in front of her stating "He's gaining!"

Then a series of high pitched beeping began to sound off to which Longarm then says "We got missile lock, arming chaff pods."

"Wait do we have missile lock or he does!?" Ahsoka calls out not clearly understanding the SPARTAN meant by that.

The constant beeping suddenly became a solid beep indicating a missile launch moments before he states "Hang on!"

He quickly launches a shower of chaff into the vacuum hopefully disrupting the guidance system aboard the homing missile and pulls back on the throttle making them drift through space while using the flight controls to spin the fighter around until it was facing the shower of burning bright lights and the tailing vulture droid beyond it. He waited for several seconds until he spots the missile streaming out of the cloud of chaff at a completely course of direction. He then sets the throttle to full power and begun firing his twin 30mm autocannons, the sabre starfighter comes charging through the cloud of light out the other end where the vulture droid was closing in firing its own pair of blaster cannons.

Ahsoka tries to hang on to a set of handle bars located on the cockpit canopy above her yelling "This is a deathtrap! Someone has to be insane to fly with you!"

The two fighter crafts drew closer not letting up on their cannons until the droid lands the first hit against the sabre's right wing slamming against the energy shielding knocking it down to critical levels, a moment later a armor piercing round tears through the vulture's right eye socket but nonetheless it remains functional landing another two bolts against the shields, shattering it, and the titanium armor plating. Only a moment later did Longarm land the killing blow when one 30mm round tears through the droid's left wing and a second shot tearing a hole clean through the head causing it to explode immediately.

The SPARTAN pulls back on the flight stick guiding the sabre fighter back up to where the others were as its shields began to recharge when he replied "Yeah I suppose that's why they don't tell me anything. You're still alive aren't you?"

Ahsoka finally let's go of the handle bars after some hesitation and said "Never. Do that again."

Suddenly Admiral Yularen's voice barked through the open communication channels "All craft fall back! It's a trap!"

They watched the clone fighters and bombers quickly make haste back to the republic cruisers which prompted the two inside the sabre to look around for a moment not seeing anything, then close behind the remaining separatist fleet came six more Munificent-class Frigates, five Recusant-class Destroyers, another Providence-class Cruiser, and two Lucrehulk-class Battleships dropping out of hyperspace and begun deploying their vast armada of droid fighters.

Ahsoka gasps in surprise before yelling at the SPARTAN "LONGARM GO! GO!"

Longarm didn't need to be told twice that he was severely outnumbered and outgunned, seeing how he's been this way throughout the war with the Covenant, and kicked the thrusters into overdrive speeding away towards the republic fleet in hopes of finding cover.

However Kenobi contacts them and orders "Longarm, Cody and Rex are facing heavy resistance in one of the main hangars, Anakin and I are making our way there as we speak. We need you to help us provide support."

The SPARTAN hesitated for a moment before Percival reassures him "Don't worry SPARTAN, Admiral Yularen and I will handle the separatist fleet, besides I've already made five—make that six kills."

Longarm then responded "Acknowledged Kenobi we're on route to assist, ETA seven minutes."

"We'll be waiting."

The sabre changes course and makes its way towards the shipyard while the republic forces fell back to defend the fleet and the capital ships continued to engage with their heavy turbo laser cannons and MAC guns.

Ahsoka asks "You think the fleet can hold off that many droid ships? Even with the _Vanguard_?"

Longarm thought about that for the moment and then contacts the UNSC destroyer "Percival, how many warheads do we have in storage?"

The AI knew what the SPARTAN as referring to and answers "We have three warheads accounted for, I can have one primed and in the tube in two minutes."

"Do it, that fleet might be a bit too much for the Republic, Ahsoka and I are on our way to the shipyard so don't worry about us, and prep the pelican for launch. Make sure it reaches the hangar and back."

"Acknowledged, stay safe."

After several minutes of flying, the sabre began its approach on the hangar bay with its atmospheric barriers up when Ahsoka asks "So what kind of warheads were you talking about with Percival?"

"Something I'd prefer we didn't use but if the situation with the fleet gets any better then we'll have no chance" he replies.

"You . . . really didn't answer my question" Tano states with some sense of worry now.

Longarm made no response after that as he begins the landing procedure as the fighter craft slowed down and started to travel through the energy barrier into the hangar where several gunships were set along with fortified positions manned by clone troopers from the 212th Attack Battalion and 501st Legion. The sabre slowly came to a soft landing and Ahsoka began to take the safety belts strapped around her off, meanwhile Longarm shuts all the systems down and slides the cockpit canopy open where the two then climbs out and drop down onto the hangar floor. They soon look out the barrier to see the pelican dropship slowly on approach as it comes through and lands opening its troop bay doors revealing a crate inside.

Longarm looks over to the far side of the hangar and sees the two Jedi speaking with their men and tells Ahsoka "Go on ahead and meet up with the others, I'll be there in a second."

"Alright" she said before heading off towards the others.

Once she left the SPARTAN made his way over to the pelican where he climbs in and opens the long crate, he finds his DC-15S blaster he took from the trooper on Coruscant, the electro-staff he grabbed from one of General Grievous's guards and modified, two M9 HE/DP Fragmentation Grenades, his SRS99D Anti-Materiel Rifle already loaded with five more magazines laid next to it, and finally a M6G standard issue magnum inside a pistol holster that attaches to his chest. He takes the blaster and holsters it to the magnetic strip on his right thigh, next he grabs the electro-staff and slides it vertically into a specially made holster on his left shoulder, the two grenades were safely tucked into a small pouch located on his lower back, he then grabs the pistol holster and attaches it onto his chest along with the other ammo pouches, and finally he slides the four-round box magazines into each pouch before picking up the rifle itself and pull the bolt back and letting go allowing it to automatically load the first round into the chamber.

He closes the crate and disembarks the dropship before getting on the comms and said "We're good here Percival, go ahead and bring the ship on back."

The AI made no response but the pelican then closed its troop bay doors and lifts up off the floor before taking off back into space towards the _Vanguard_. Longarm watched the dropship fly out into the distance before slinging the rifle around his right shoulder and make his way to the small gathering of clones around the force sensitive trio.

Obi-wan and the others around him stood around a small holographic projection of the shipyard, provided by R2, when he says "The command tower is located on the starboard section of the station, this is the way Cody, Longarm, and I will take seeing that it is more heavily guarded than the rest of the base. However we cannot neglect the port section where they construct the destroyers, Ahsoka and Anakin will take the 501st and destroy the ship that's already in construction."

Ahsoka adds "Should everything go well we should be able to meet at the hangar on the far end of the station."

Anakin sees Longarm coming up behind two of his men and suddenly says "Uh why don't I take Longarm and Ahsoka can go with you."

Kenobi raises an eyebrow "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure Master, besides Rex and I are a little undermanned."

Ahsoka takes a look around seeing more 212th than 501st and said "Sounds fair to me . . ."

Obi-wan sighs "Very well if that's what you want, Longarm can go with you and Captain Rex."

Afterwards Cody puts his helmet on and orders "Alright let's move it out!"

The other troopers placed their helmets on and followed their respective commanders, with Ahsoka and Obi-wan heading starboard and Skywalker and Longarm heading port. Before both groups passed through their first bulkhead doors, the SPARTAN-ll and togruta stopped and looked back at one another.

Longarm watched her turn away and follow Kenobi before he briefly said "Carpe diem . . ." looking away and following the other troopers further into the station.

Longarm walks through the door hatch alongside a clone trooper, in his phase 2 combat armor with distinct blue markings, when Skywalker orders "Longarm front and center, you'll be taking point along with Havoc."

The SPARTAN and a clone armed with the long-barreled DC-15A Blaster Rifle moves up as ordered ahead of the twenty five man group and began leading the troops and their Jedi general through the long narrow corridors illuminated by dull green lights mounted on the walls, Longarm kept his anti-materiel rifle pressed up against his shoulder and his finger on the trigger ready to fire the moment he spots a battle droid. However the clone next to him, Havoc, seemed relaxed as if he's used to being the point man for some time, they were beginning to approach a four-way intersection when Skywalker and Rex noticed the SPARTAN tense up when he quickly turns around the left corner scanning for targets though there were none and resumed walking down the straight corridor.

Anakin and Rex looked at each other briefly before the Jedi looks up at the dark soldier in front of him and asks "So how long have you been the mercenary business Longarm?"

The SPARTAN turns his head back briefly meeting Skywalker's eyes through his black visor and faces forward again answering "About twenty five years."

Rex comments "That's a long time . . . and a lot of experience."

Havoc asks "Hey Captain, didn't you say something about experience outranking everything?"

"If that were the case he'd be leading the platoon right now, no disrespect Skywalker."

The Jedi grinned "None at all Rex."

Longarm suddenly stops and throws his right hand up in a fist signaling everyone to stop and be quiet; the troopers then spread out despite the tight room and began lining up their rifles and carbines aiming them down the corridor they were heading down.

Skywalker watched Longarm slowly enter a crouch position and take careful aim as if he already sees something, he looks down the hall finding nothing or even hearing anything as of that matter, and he asks calmly "What is it?"

The SPARTAN replied "Shh . . . wait . . ."

The 501st remained still ready to start shooting at a moment's notice but they saw and heard nothing, it was virtually dead silent, until they started to hear distant chatter coming from one the connecting corridors ahead. Soon enough a pair of B1 droids comes around the corner talking about something seconds before the SPARTAN fires off the first shot sending an anti-materiel round through the droid on the left's head instantly destroying it.

The other droid only had enough time to yell "WHAT THE!?" before being struck in the chest by a blue plasma bolt fired from Havoc's rifle.

Rex lowers his two DC-17 Blaster Pistols down before saying some awe "Good ears . . ."

"Built-in audio receptors" Longarm comments "Speaking of ears there are no doubt that somebody else heard those gunshots, be on guard."

The platoon of soldiers acknowledged that warning and readied their weapons before they began making their way through the corridors with Longarm, Havoc, and now Skywalker and Rex taking the lead.

On the other end of the station, Ahsoka, General Kenobi, Marshal Commander Cody, and the 212th Attack Battalion were heavily engaged with separatist forces that were trying desperately to defend the command tower throwing formations of battle droids towards the advancing clones and Jedi.

Obi-wan finishes cutting down a super battle droid when he uses the force and propels another droid through the air when he says with his usual calm "This is precisely why I needed Longarm to come with me."

Ahsoka meanwhile was deflecting incoming blaster bolts by swinging and twirling her two lightsabers acting as a one way shield while the clones behind her shot past her hitting the droids downrange, she remarks "I thought you liked my company Master, I really hope they're having it worse right now."

"Right well we can't worry about them right now" Kenobi says as he joins Ahsoka's side and help her deflect incoming fire.

Cody finishes putting a burst of blaster fire out when he turns to his entrenched troopers and bark "C'mon men let's move it!"

Several clones replied "Sir yes sir!" and began coming out of cover getting behind the Jedi as they started to push towards the droids' position in force.

The B1 droids quickly switched from offense to defense and began hunkering down behind cover while the B2s continued marching towards the republic forces firing away with their wrist mounted blaster cannons. The fighting was fierce, for every three droids a clone trooper fell, but the 212th continued pushing through the separatists' lines despite the losses they were taking.

Kenobi orders "We must keep pushing!"

Cody in turn relays the order "You heard 'em boys! Keep pushing!"

Republic forces continued to push hard against the droid armies, meanwhile as Kenobi continues to block incoming blaster fire he gets onto his comlink contacting Skywalker "Anakin, I do hope you're just having as much fun as we are at the moment!"

The Jedi Knight voice came in mixed with blaster fire and sniper shots "We're heavily engaged as well Master! We're coming up on the docked destroyer now!"

"We're approaching the command tower as well, complete your objective and meet us at the far hangar."

"Understood, Rex flush out those droids!"

The transmission ended when Kenobi watched Ahsoka go on the offensive in tear down a squad of droids through the Jedi arts of Shien with speed and lethal precision using her two lightsabers in her usual reverse gripped style. The sudden loss of the droid squad prompted Obi-wan and his troopers to make a rapid advance through the corridors and caught up with the young togruta who was already cutting a B2 super battle droid down.

Kenobi comes to her side slicing a battle droid across the chest and comments "I see you haven't lost your touch with a lightsaber."

"It's everything you and Master Skywalker taught me, I see the entrance to the command tower up ahead."

"Then we shouldn't waste time. Cody droid poppers!"

"Yes sir!" Cody replies before he and another clone pulls out an EMP grenade each and hurled them at one of the few remaining droid squads.

The grenades landed near the defenders when they shortly delivered a short range electro-magnetic pulse frying the droids' systems and cause them to shut down, the Jedi and fellow troopers then begun their final push for the command tower and take control of the shipyard.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	17. SHIVA

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 17**

"**SHIVA"**

[Null Sector]

Longarm fires off another two anti-materiel rounds from his SRS99D taking down a super battle droid in the midst of the heavy fighting taking place in the corridors between the separatists and the 501st Legion. Captain Rex was fighting alongside the SPARTAN with his blaster pistols gunning down droids with efficiency as well as General Skywalker who was going on the defensive protecting his men from incoming bolts while they in turn engaged the separatist from their dug in positions.

Anakin could see the Recusant-class Destroyer in construction through some view ports located along the right wall, he states "C'mon men we're almost there! Keep pushing!"

"You head him troopers! Move it double time!" Rex barked.

The troopers fought harder taking down droids left and right but they too were sustaining casualties whenever a lucky blaster bolt strikes a clone causing him to fall over with a brief cry of pain, one trooper eventually yells out "Spider droid!"

Longarm was taking cover behind a extrusion coming out of the side of the corridor reloading his rifle when he glanced down the hallway seeing the droids dug in with this large quadrupedal machine with a dome-like body featuring two large red eyes with two much smaller eyes in between and a large forward mounted blaster cannon, this was the DSD1 Dwarf Spider Droid.

Longarm states calmly "I got it" before appearing out of cover lining up the shot with his rifle.

He pulls the trigger sending a high velocity 14.5mm armor piercing sabot round downrange but when the projectile collided with the droid's thick heavy armor it ricocheted off and struck a B1's side destroying that one in the process while the spider droid merely took a step back from the impact. The droid then traced the shot fired back to the SPARTAN and fired a high powered bolt of energy which came streaming back and slams itself into his chest shattering his shields and knocking the seven foot soldier flat out onto the ground in one single hit. Skywalker looked down at the soldier finding no movements, he knows no one could've survived a direct impact from a spider droid's cannon, until he saw the SPARTAN's right leg move slowly and a heard a low groan.

He asks "You still breathing Longarm?"

Longarm replies "Ugh . . . yeah I'm still able . . ." before he slowly got back up to his feet and back into fighting shape.

Rex saw the soldier get back up after taking the hit and states "You're pretty lucky Longarm!"

"Yeah, and now I'm pissed" he replies allowing his shields to recharge.

Once his shields came back to full strength he taps the shoulder of a trooper that took cover next to him and hands his rifle over to him saying "Mind holding this for a second?" before coming out of cover and make a mad dash for the entrenched droids.

A B1 droid emerges out of cover to shoot when it spots the one ton black soldier racing towards them at fifty three kilometers an hour quickly closing the gap through his use of his augmented abilities and only giving the droid enough time to yell "Uh oh!" before the SPARTAN-ll was right on top of them.

Longarm leaps over the first set of cover the droids were using and slams his right shoulder straight into a B2 super battle droid with such force knocking the droid over before proceeding with the rest. Skywalker, Rex, and the clones soon ceased fire once they saw the close range carnage the super soldier inflicted on the separatist ranks. Longarm throws a quick right uppercut into a battle droid with his fist smashing into the thin durasteel plating while tearing the head off with his left hand, other droids responded to the attacker among them and began firing laser bolts at the SPARTAN however he begun to use his first victim as a shield before tossing it aside and made way for his next target.

All then meanwhile he was single handedly wreaking havoc he could hear B1 battle droids yell out in fear with their humoring high-pitched voices "Oh my god! Shoot him shoot him!"

He quickly performs a roundhouse kick sending a battle droid flying towards the wall, instantly follows up with a jab with his right arm piercing another droid's armored chassis and disables the droid tossing it away like a piece of garbage when his back was struck by a pair of blaster bolts fired from a super battle droid. His shields held and he turns to face the droid before he makes a fast high swing with his right fist but the droid quickly throws up its left three fingered mechanical claw and caught the SPARTAN's fist before it began to squeeze.

The droid laughed triumphantly with its low monotone voice "Ha ha ha . . . I have you no-"

Longarm immediately resorts to a simple but powerful head bash slamming his titanium-A E.O.D. helmet against the droid's heavily armored faceplate where it damages the optics and forces it to let go allowing the SPARTAN super soldier to seize the droid in his two hands and lift the heavy autonomous machine up over his head.

The droid only had enough time to say "Whoa hey! Let me down!" before Longarm obliged its request and brought its back down hard and fast on his right knee snapping the droid's mechanical spine and destroying vital components inside.

He then picks the droid up again by its leg and threw it towards another pair of droids crushing them in the process before receiving a glancing blow from the spider droid's main cannon when it finally got a lock. The SPARTAN then rushed the four legged machine using his EVA boosters for extra velocity and kinetic force where he comes around to the droid's left quickly and slams his left shoulder against the spider's heavily armored dome toppling it over onto its side. The droid gave an animal like squeal in fright from the impact and began to get itself back up but Longarm firmly placed his left boot on the droid preventing it from correcting itself and draws his electro-staff, activated and ready for use, and drives the staff downward forcibly through the spider droid's exposed undercarriage causing it to convulse in electrical shock and shut down.

He withdraws his staff from the impaled droid moments before he sees Skywalker and his men come up to him from their precision, Rex looked around at squad of droids the SPARTAN eliminated with his own hands and says with newfound respect and some fear "Nice work . . ."

Longarm holsters his staff before the trooper he entrusted his rifle to comes up and returns the weapon to the SPARTAN he looks at Skywalker and notices a scornful expression on the Jedi's face, he couldn't tell why Anakin was doing this despite his success in destroying a full squad of battle droids, but he ignores him and begins taking the lead with the troopers following behind on their way to destroy the docked destroyer leaving the Jedi behind.

Captain Rex however remained at Skywalker's side as he noticed the general's distrust and asks "Something wrong?"

Anakin replied "Keep your eye on him, there's something about him that I don't like."

Rex however seemed confused "Sir?"

"Call it a hunch, but I get the feeling Longarm is not just here to lend a hand to the Republic."

The captain wasn't sure what Skywalker was on to but he trusted the Jedi with his life, and that of the 501st, and learned that if he was suspicious about something then normally he was right so he complies "Right . . . c'mon General, we don't want to be left behind."

The two then started their way catching up to the others as they steadily advance towards the Recusant destroyer.

On the other end of the station, Kenobi and Tano, along with the 212th, were starting to seize the lower levels of the command tower that oversees all operations on the shipyard. The Jedi along with Commander Cody and two of Cody's best men, Boil and another trooper named Sar, fought their way up through the levels while the rest of Ghost Company fought fiercely door to door clearing room by room. The Jedi were already up to the third and final level before the command center when they engaged another squad of B1 battle droids, now backed up with a droideka, Ahsoka and Kenobi darted straight for the battle droids while Cody and his two men took on the droideka through teamwork. Boil started making his way around the destroyer droid while Cody and Sar occupied it by shooting at its energy shield with their standard issue blasters. Boil finally gets behind the droid and pulls out his own EMP grenade, arming it, and gently roll the grenade slow enough so it would pass through the destroyer's personal shield. Once the grenade passed through it quickly noticed Boil and begun to turn but was too late when the grenade emitted its electro-magnetic pulse and shuts it down.

Kenobi cuts down the last droid before he says "Good work Boil."

Ahsoka adds "Come on, the command center is just above us."

She then quickly took the lead up the next set of stairs with Kenobi and the clones close behind her, they raced to the top destroying any droids that stood in their way through the use of lightsabers or blasters. Despite what type of droid stood in their way they quickly eliminated them one by one until they reached the command center, they reached the last bulkhead hatch that leads into command center which was easily presumed to be heavily guarded by what remained of the droid forces in the starboard sector of the shipyard.

Ahsoka lined up on the right side of the hatch with Cody stacking up behind her while Kenobi, Boil, and Sar stacked up on the left side, Boil asks "General how're we going to get the drop on these clankers? They probably have every blaster pointed at the door when we come through."

Kenobi adds "True . . . we'll need a distraction of some sort" he glances at Ahsoka and noticed that she was already in the process of developing a plan, he asks "I know that look young Tano, what do you propose?"

She answers "One second" she turns on her comlink and switches to the UNSC encrypted channel Percival provided her and contacted the _Vanguard_ "Percy you there?"

It was a short moment later before the AI responded "The ship is still here if that's what you're asking about. What is it?"

"Master Kenobi and I are standing outside the station's command center, can you get a fix on what we're up against?"

"Of course, standby."

Percival went silent for a moment when Obi-wan asks "Friend of yours?"

"You can say that, you should meet him one day" Tano said with a grin.

"I sure would . . ."

After a few more moments Percival finally comes back and said "Alright you got twenty plus targets, some working on working stations and some on the door ready to shoot."

"Good, can you provide a distraction?"

"Yes, I can send a distraction in ninety seconds on your go. You'll only have a small window to do what you have to do. That's all I can do for you."

"Thanks Percy, do it."

"Acknowledged . . . Pod six is hot, launching in five."

"Thanks Percy. We'll take it from here."

She turns her comlink before Cody next to her asks "What's the word?"

"We go in ninety seconds, Percival has something for them."

[Command Center]

General Kronus, a super tactical battle droid with khaki as his primary color for his external chassis complimented with dark grey 'vines' ordained across his body as his secondary, was assisting Captain Mar Tuuk coordinate their newly arrived reinforcements in order to defeat the Republic forces and push them out of the system through force. He personally made sure the command center, that closely resembled that of a separatist frigate's command bridge with the pyramid like structuring and wide open view ports giving an excellent field of view, was secured with the aid of eight B2 super battle droids, nine B1 battle droids including his second in commander, four droidekas with their shields deployed and weapons armed, and two more droidekas configured into the sniper variants outfitted with a powerful anti-personnel blaster cannon and a well armored rounded faceplate to protect the droid from frontal attacks.

A B1 battle droid reports "Sir, there's a pair of Jedi along with some clones waiting outside the hatch."

Kronus replied in his usual low intimidating monotone voice "It does not matter, I calculate their odds at seizing this command center to be five hundred seventy three to one, they will not succeed."

Another battle droid reports "General! That unidentified warship just launched a missile, it's heading right for us."

Kronus couldn't evaluate why the warship would dare fire upon the station when they were trying to take control of it, nonetheless he orders "Divert reserve power to the shields."

"Roger Roger" the droid replied before doing what it was ordered.

A third droid reports "Sir, the Captain is contacting us."

"Put it through" Kronus orders.

Soon enough a hologram of Captain Tuuk sitting in his command chair appeared before the droid general, Tuuk orders "General, I need you to direct your ships in a frontal assault against the Jedi. We can defeat them if we act now."

Kronus quickly calculated all possible outcomes within seconds and states "No, if I understand correctly then it is Admiral Yularen leading the fleet, a direct assault would result in seventy three percent of our fleet's destruction. I will hold my ships and wear the Republic out through a war of attrition."

Mar became frustrated "You droids are all the same! If we don—"

Kronus rudely interrupts Tuuk "Good bye Captain" before cutting the transmission.

He then turns to the droid that mentioned the missile and orders "Report."

The droid answered "The missile is a kilometer out and closing fast, impact imminent."

The general looked out the wide viewport and spots the missile barreling towards them until it suddenly impacted the station's shields releasing a powerful explosion and rocked the entire station, the crew stumbled back and forth after the hit and that's when Kronus heard the hatch behind him open up followed up blaster fire. He quickly draws his E5 Blaster Carbine attached to his right thigh and turns to see two Jedi accompanied by three clone troopers, he quickly takes aim with one hand at one of the lower ranked troopers and fires a bolt striking the clone in his right shoulder forcing him to let go of his DC-15S blaster.

The other trooper calls out "Boil!" before Kronus takes aim again, this time for the other clone's head.

Ahsoka quickly dismantled a sniper droideka before lunging at the droid general, cutting his carbine in two with a single swing, but Kronus was extremely quick to react disarming the young togruta of her lightsabers and deliver two low blows to her stomach one quickly followed by the other. Obi-wan quickly realizes Tano in danger and begins to rush towards her after cutting down three super battle droids but Kronus quickly seizes Ahsoka's neck in an head lock with his right arm and bringing up one of her own lightsabers to her neck with his left.

Kenobi and the clones quickly ceased their fighting and everyone entered a standoff, Kronus greets the Jedi General "General Obi-wan Kenobi, the negotiator . . . I had calculated the possibilities of you being aboard your warship. It seems that they were false."

"And you are?" Obi-wan asks.

"I am General Kronus, and ironically enough I am the one that is keeping your fleet intact."

Cody scoffs "Says the bucket head that's holding a Jedi hostage with her own lightsaber."

Kronus's three optical eyes locked onto Cody for the moment and said "Captain Mar Tuuk insists that I launch my ships in a forward assault. I am unlike him, I do not waste my assets in blind and uncalculated situations."

Ahsoka struggled to free herself from the droid's firm grip as she uttered "Scrap this bucket of bolts . . ."

Kronus however threatens "The moment either one of you pulls a trigger or make a swing, I will have already slit your companion's throat. Drop your weapons and call off your troops, and I will spare your lives."

Kenobi and the troopers looked at one another deciding whether or not to risk Ahsoka's life in order to complete the mission but Obi-wan eventually orders "Do what he says, drop your weapons" before deactivating his lightsaber and tossing it onto the floor.

The clones followed suit and dropped their blasters to the floor allowing the surviving battle droids to seize their weapons and hold them at gunpoint.

On the other side of the station, Longarm, Skywalker, and the 501st were now crossing the docking tube leading into the partially constructed Recusant-class Destroyer after dealing with the few remaining guards left on the station.

Anakin stops for a moment letting his troopers pass him on their way to the destroyer and ordered "C'mon men move it! Let's go!"

The SPARTAN was taking the lead as usual when the hatch ahead of him opened up revealing a pair of B2 battle droids coming out, he tosses his sniper rifle aside and goes into a full sprint reaching up to his top fifty three kilometers an hour. Using this velocity Longarm cock his right arm back before entering close proximity of the first droid where he then launches his right fist like a loaded gun sending his hand smashing against the droid's armored faceplate where it warped and buckled under the SPARTAN-ll's sheer augmented strength. The droid simply crumpled to the floor while the second droid prepared to open fire but its armor was immediately racked by blaster fire given by Captain Rex and several clones resulting in the droid's termination as it slumped down to the ground.

"You owe us now" Rex states as he runs pass the SPARTAN.

Another clone comes up with the discarded sniper rifle and hands it back to Longarm before he passes through the hatch and board the destroyer.

Once they made it inside one of the vessel's corridors, Skywalker orders "If we're going to destroy the ship we need to rupture the engine core near the aft, Rex take Longarm and some of your men with you."

"We're on it Skywalker, Havoc and Trus on me!"

Two clones responded "Yes sir!" and begun to follow their captain and the super soldier as they made their way aft.

The Jedi watched the four soldiers leave before getting his comlink and ask "We're on the destroyer Obi-wan, what's your progress?"

His master shortly replies "We're a little busy right now . . . Ahsoka is being held hostage."

"What!? Hang on I'm on my way!"

"No Anakin! Any wrong move and they'll kill her."

Skywalker sighed and acknowledged his master's warning "Yes Master I understand . . ."

He signs off now feeling frustrated and helpless knowing Tano was in danger and that he couldn't do anything about it, he soon hears heavy footsteps approaching from behind and when he turned he found Rex and the others returning from their assignment.

Rex reports "Sir, the charges are planted."

"That was quick . . ."

Longarm steps in "Yeah well having two guards standing outside a door hatch that hasn't been installed yet isn't really the most effective way of protecting a reactor core. What's the status of the other team?"

"They're at the command bridge, but Ahsoka is in danger."

"What? We gotta go help them" the SPARTAN states starting to make his way back into the docking tube.

"No! If we do anything to save them they're dead."

"Then what the hell are we going to do?"

Anakin thought for a moment before answering "Destroy the ship and head for the hangar, hopefully we'll have a plan" he noticed Longarm was looking elsewhere as if he already had something in mind, he asks "What do you have in mind?"

The SPARTAN looked back at Skywalker answering "Hopefully one hell of a distraction" he then contacts the _Vanguard_ "Percival, what's the status on that warhead?"

"Primed and ready for launch, the separatist fleet is pressing their advance."

"Alright buddy, launch it."

Percival paused for the moment before obeying "Acknowledged, overriding authorization protocols and removing the safety locks. Missile launch in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Launch. Missile is away."

"Alright you done your part, retreat to a safe distance."

"Acknowledged."

Longarm signs off and turns to Skywalker saying "General, contact the fleet and tell them withdraw your fighters and retreat along with the _Vanguard_. Raising your shields might help too."

Skywalker's voice soon became threatening as if he instantly became disappointed with the SPARTAN "What. Did you do?"

But Longarm wasn't intimidated by the Jedi's tone of voice "Anakin, if you don't warn the fleet now people are going to die."

Anakin knew he didn't have time to argue and contacts Yularen aboard the cruiser _Savior_ "Admiral come in?"

Yularen's voice came through, he seemed on edge and quite worried "Yes General we read you, the _Vanguard_ has launched a missile and is falling back with haste. What's going on?"

"I don't know, but you need to recall our fighters and withdraw the fleet now!"

"Of course General, we're falling back."

On the command center, Kenobi and the clones stood idle with their hands behind their heads while Genearl Kronus held young Ahsoka hostage with her lightsaber up against her neck. He notices the Republic fleet was withdrawing its fighters and falling back with haste while this lone missile, launched from the _Vanguard, _slowly made its way to the reinforced separatist fleet. This particular missile burned with a different color and at a much slower velocity compared to the usual barrage of Archer Missiles launched against the fleet.

Ahsoka's comlink chimed prompting the droid General to ask "What is this?"

He presses the comlink and a voice, Ahsoka recognized it as Longarm's, came through "Ahsoka? You hear me?"

Kronus answered "I am afraid your friend is unavailable at the moment, surrender yourselves immediately or your friend dies."

"Oh . . . so you're the one holding her hostage . . . well it's not really going to matter in the next few minutes."

"Explain yourself" the droid demanded.

"Are you looking out your viewports right now? If not then you probably should."

Kronus turns around with Ahsoka in his hands and quickly notices a single missile flying across open space on a collision course with Tuuk's warship _Abdominal_, the SPARTAN states "I am assuming you can see a missile making its way to the separatist fleet right about now."

Kronus responds with certainty "Irrelevant, I have observed your weapons' capabilities, a lone missile will not make it pass through the cruiser's energy shielding."

Longarm then explains "Doesn't have to, that missile you see there is a SHIVA-class Nuclear Missile. Currently it is fitted with a one hundred megaton warhead that will reduce your defense fleet into nothing more than dust. My personal recommendation is if you value your life or that of this entire station then you will raise the shields to full power. You only have about a minute to do so before the resulting shockwave impacts the station and tears it apart."

The missile was now less than a kilometer away from the _Abdominal_ as the cruiser attempted to take evasive action but the nuke was not easily avoided nor was it easy to shoot down while the fleet used every available asset they have. Kronus watched the missile ominously approach the ship before impacting against the dreadnaught's shields, at that very moment, everything became replaced with a bright blinding light.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	18. Friendly fire

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 18**

**"****Friendly fire"**

[Null sector, Separatist flagship _Abdominal_]

[Few minutes prior to nuclear detonation]

Mar Tuuk was having a difficult time dealing with the Republic fleet and their still unidentified ally as it destroys another frigate with its two massive forward mounted cannons, with General Kronus refusing to help it made things that much more difficult.

He watches the latest victim crumple away after receiving two direct hits from the destroyer when Tuuk orders "Get me Kronus immediately!"

But a droid answers "We tried sir, he's not responding to our transmissions."

"What could possibly be stopping him!? No matter we must prepare for our own ass—"

Another droid suddenly interrupts "Sir! Their fighters are pulling back!"

Tuuk seemed surprised "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean they're fleeing back to their cruisers. Did we win?"

The captain immediately knew something wasn't right, given that this is Skywalker's fleet, and answered "Not yet . . . Skywalker is up to something."

A third droid states "You might be right about that sir, that unidentified vessel launched a missile at us and is fleeing the battlefield; with some haste I might add."

A fourth "Sir their cruisers are now in full retreat."

Something didn't set right with the captain, first their fighters were pulling then their cruisers and now this missile that was closing in on their position; he orders "Give me a visual of that missile . . ."

The droids complied and quickly brought up a holographic diagram of the missile before the captain, a few more moments later a droid analysts comes up by the hologram and reports "There's nothing out of the usual for its purpose but the materials we scanned are not registered on our data banks. In fact the only component we've managed to identify."

The hologram zoomed in on the front of the missile, the warhead, and the droid resumed "The warhead is constructed of a durable metal similar to our durasteel but not only does it act as protection for the mechanism inside, it compresses the initial blast thus amplifying the explosive force exponentially."

"What else is there?" the captain asks.

"We've also detected traces of radioactive elements on a molecular scale; the mechanism however is something we've never seen. From what we were able to determine, the triggering mechanism utilizes those same radioactive elements to ignite an explosion of immense power."

Tuuk has heard enough and realizes the potential danger the incoming missile poses, he quickly orders "Have all fighters intercept that missile and initiate evasive maneuvers!"

The bridge crew acknowledged and coordinated the fleet effort to neutralize the missile before it has a chance to detonate, however the missile was too close and none of the fleet's ship-based weapons were able to accurately hit such a small target, Tuuk realized that this was truly it. And embraced the inevitable outcome before the missile struck the bow of his dreadnaught, then everything was gone in a bright flash.

The initial blast created a small, compressed, and unholy burst of pure energy and force which vaporized the front half of the Providence-class Dreadnaught along with the three Munificent-class Star Frigates in close proximity, instantly killing Tuuk and thousands of droid crewmembers. The ensuing explosion soon sends out a shockwave reaching several hundred miles a minute and literally dismantled the remaining aft section of the _Abdominal_ to the smallest of fragments while overloading the shields of the ships outside of the initial blast radius and virtually splintered those armored vessels apart with tremendous force. The Lucrehulk battleships were then immediately caught in the nuke's electromagnetic pulse, caused by the gamma rays produced from the nuclear explosion creating high energy electrons through Compton scattering, resulting in their shields to fall without a struggle and knocking out all electronic systems leaving the three kilometer warships defenseless and without power.

[Jedi cruiser _Savior_]

Admiral Yularen along with the fleet had to shield their eyes from the brilliant flash until it dulled and he looked out to see the entire separatist fleet consisting of twenty one vessels, devastated in one blow, shortly after taking a good look at the destruction he quickly realizes the shockwave created from the blast was fast approaching.

He quickly orders the bridge crew "Divert all power to the shields and brace for impact!"

The Venator-class Star Destroyers, one after another, raised their shields to full power and made ready against the incoming wave of tremendous energy. The shockwave came fast and hard rocking the republic attack cruisers violently while overloading the shields of the two remaining Arquitens-class Escort Cruisers, their small stature and less powerful shields had failed, and ripping them apart with brute force, it was sensible enough that a nuclear explosion will not discriminate to all caught in its power.

The wave passed through and Yularen was able to maintain his footing, he then calls out "Damage report!"

A clone reports "We have injuries reporting in on multiple decks! Primary drive two and three are out of power and we have major structural damage along the port and starboard bow!"

Another crewmember adds "Sir we lost the _Belfast_ and the _Protectorate_, no survivors detected."

The admiral asks "What of the fleet?"

"Reports coming now, they're reporting casualties and major structural damage, the fleet is crippled sir."

Yularen looks out the starboard viewport finding the _Vanguard_ seemingly in perfect condition with no visible damage noted on the heavily armored hull to which he frowned upon and asks himself "My god . . . what have they done?"

[Command center, separatist shipyard]

Everyone watched the destruction unfold and every ship caught in the blast blown into oblivion, every droid, clone, and Jedi all watched in awe and horror.

Kronus watched the devastation and unknowingly released Ahsoka, who was too shocked to even take the advantage at the moment, before realizing that the terrifying force of energy was barreling towards them at great speed and quickly orders a droid "Send all nonessential power to the shields!"

The droids did not respond with their usual acknowledging _roger roger_ and immediately got to work taking power away from anything that the station can survive without such as lighting, gravity control, recharging stations made for other droids, that are most likely dead now, and other miscellaneous functions. The station's shields came to full power just shortly before the wave impacts the facility.

Kenobi calls out "BRACE YOURSELVES!"

The shockwave slammed into the station like the ship collision and the entire facility shook as if a massive earthquake occurred knocking everyone off their feet, and causing Kronus to let go of Ahsoka's lightsabers.

Kronus asks "Report!"

A droid reports "We have significant structural damage throughout the entire station, the destroyer in the construction yard broke off from its docking clamps and was destroyed. There's . . . also another situation . . ."

"What sort of situation?"

The droid turns around facing towards something behind the droid General "Umm . . ."

Kronus looks down at his left hand to find it empty, moments before he hears several lightsabers activating and guns charging, and turns around to see Kenobi, Ahsoka, and the clones armed and ready to take the command center.

Kronus folds his hands behind his back and states "You will not succeed . . . the probability is—" before being swiftly decapitated by Ahsoka's lightsaber.

The clones then open fired killing the droid bridge crew as they attempted to flee and Obi-wan personally dealt with the remaining droids that attempted to fight back. The droids were all scrapped shortly before more clones arrived and secured the room, Kenobi sheathes his saber and looks back at what remains of the separatist fleet, nothing but shattered ships and a shower of radiation that still lingers around the initial blast zone.

He asks in his usual calm tone but the others could sense the dread behind it "What. Was that?"

"One hell of a cruiser buster if you ask me sir" Cody states.

Ahsoka looks out to the droid graveyard answering "I don't know Master . . . but he did save the fleet" upon seeing the venators and the _Vanguard_ still intact.

Kenobi mentions "True but he also has some explaining to do, look more closely."

Ahsoka looks further and finds both of the republic escort cruisers destroyed with no apparent survivors all those men caught in the blast and their shields weren't enough to save them, Obi-wan was right about Longarm needing to explain himself, and gets on her comlink contacting the SPARTAN who should be at the hangar now mopping up the rest of the droid resistance along with Skywalker and the 501st.

"Longarm come in? You read me?" she asks.

Nothing came back except static for a moment before Longarm's voice came through mixed with a swing of a lightsaber "Yeah! I hear you! But I'm a little busy at the moment!"

"You're having trouble with droids? That's weird" she states well aware of the SPARTAN's capabilities.

"Not droids! Skywalker!" he replies dodging another swing.

Tano panicked "What!? Hang on I'm on my way! Don't hurt Anakin!" before she, Kenobi, and Cody headed out of the command center to see what was going on.

[Hangar bay, seconds after initial detonation]

The brilliant flash filled the space around it as the explosion devastated the entire separatist fleet while Anakin and the 501st shielded their eyes but Longarm on the other hand was watching the destruction unfold, fighters being vaporized and warships torn apart by the furious heat and radiation. Once the light died down everyone began to look and first hand saw the might of UNSC power.

Longarm soon calls out "Brace for impact!" upon seeing the approaching shockwave.

Everyone heeded his call and braced for the inevitable impact but it proved futile once the wave hits, slamming into the station and causing everyone to stumble over onto the ground save for Longarm who was quick to magnetize his boots maintaining his footing.

The wave soon passes shortly before everyone started getting back up on their feet and Anakin began to worry for the republic fleet and contacts Yularen "Admiral what's your status?"

"We're fine General, but we lost the _Belfast _and the _Protectorate_ to the blast. I . . . regret to inform there were no survivors . . ."

The Jedi sighs "Thank you Admiral . . ." and signs off before giving a menacing glare towards the SPARTAN who was still standing where he was watching the droid fleet slowly come apart during the after effects of the nuclear blast.

He growled "You knew . . ." catching the seven foot soldier's attention.

Longarm turns towards him and asks "I knew what?"

"Don't act stupid, you knew that missile could've destroyed this station and our fleet! We lost two ships and plenty of good men!"

The SPARTAN could feel the anger and frustration in the Jedi over the loss of his men, he replies with a cold and emotionless tone "They were acceptable losses, if the missile hadn't been launched then the separatist fleet would've rolled on your ships and there would be no survivors."

Rex steps up taking his helmet off and intervenes "Sir if I may, and as much as I hate to admit this, he has a point. That fleet had us outnumbered."

Skywalker states angrily "It's not about what we lost, it's about what we could've lost. That missile could've easily destroyed everything and he just gambled it on an assumption!"

"You're sort of a risk taker yourself Skywalker . . ."

"I know that" Anakin exclaims before turning to Longarm "But you went too far."

The SPARTAN however analyzes the situation in his head and states "If what your captain says is true then you're not entirely upset with what you're telling me. What's really on your mind?"

Skywalker speaks with newfound hatred and disgust for the SPARTAN "Cain was right, Ahsoka's way in over her head."

Longarm scoffs "Cain? You mean Komari right!? That old man has no clue what he's talking about. What else did he say?"

"That you're a danger to her and I should talk you into leaving her" he then draws his hilt and activates it erecting a blue blade "But we both know that's not going to happen."

Longarm takes a step back putting his hand over the M6G Magnum in its holster over his chest, Rex steps in front of Skywalker in hopes of defusing the situation "Skywalker! You don't want to do this right now!"

"Stand aside Rex . . . this is between Longarm and me."

Longarm adds "So we agree on something, stand aside Captain this isn't your fight."

Rex didn't want to leave one of his closest friends but he had no other choice and backs away along with his men as the two belligerents stared each other in the eyes and visors. No one made a move or even made a sound knowing that the two could kill each other in a second, Longarm could pull his magnum and put a round through Jedi's head in an instant while Anakin could make a single swipe and cut the SPARTAN in half.

Longarm warns his adversary "This is your first and only warning Skywalker, walk away. Don't make me kill you."

"No . . ." Anakin replies with a hiss of hate.

At that instant Longarm draws his magnum faster than anyone could've blinked and pressed the barrel of his gun against Anakin's forehead but the Jedi was just as fast and uses the force to throw the one ton SPARTAN across the hangar towards a pile of stacked crates. Longarm's back slams into the crates causing them to tumble over but he soon gets back up and takes aim once more with his magnum, Skywalker was already charging towards him with great speed that could rival Kelly-087, a fellow SPARTAN-ll well known for being the fastest capable of reaching sixty two kilometers an hour. He fires off the first two shots sending 12.7mm × 40mm M225 Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive rounds downrange towards the speeding Jedi, however to his surprise Skywalker evades both shots with a quick side step to the right with the second round merely grazing his left arm. Skywalker was closing the gap fast and so the SPARTAN quickly holsters his M6G in exchange for the magna-guard electro-staff attached to his left shoulder pad, he pulls it out activating it which resulted in the staff extending itself and the two ends came to life with purple colored electricity, moments before the Jedi swung his saber and collided with the staff's center bar which was made entirely of the lightsaber-resistant phrik.

The SPARTAN's helmet comms unit came online with Ahsoka's voice asking "Longarm come in? You read me?"

He responded "Yeah! I hear you!" Skywalker backs away and swings up high in an effort to decapitate him but he ducks and continues "But I'm a little busy at the moment!"

"You're having trouble with droids? That's weird"

Anakin swings again aiming for the SPARTAN's mid-section but his target quickly jumps back before stating "Not droids! Skywalker!"

"What!? Hang on I'm on my way! Don't hurt Anakin!" she said before getting off her comlink.

'_No promises_' he thought to himself before delivering a jabbing blow to Skywalker's abdomen with the tip of his staff sending a brief shock of electrocution through the Jedi's body. He watched Anakin take a couple of steps back from the blow before he began his assault swiftly striking his target multiple times across his body before the Jedi finally adjusted to the SPARTAN's speed and began to counter each blow he threw.

The two quickly entered a lock where neither side was gaining ground, Skywalker states with anger "You're too dangerous to be near Ahsoka!"

Longarm began to push with his staff against Anakin's saber as he said "I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her!" before he shoves the saber aside with his staff, breaking the lock, and deliver a halfhearted blow to his left cheek with his right gloved fist.

The impact, despite how easy the SPARTAN went, dazed Skywalker and was briefly unable to fight effectively until Longarm grabs the back of his neck and throws him against a stack of crates head first allowing the metal boxes to come crashing down on the Jedi. Believing that his opponent was now unconscious, Longarm began to walk away until he was swiftly confronted by Rex and five of his men all aiming their weapons directly at him. He didn't pay any attention to them and started to walk until he was struck from behind by a crate thrown at him, he stumbled a couple of steps before getting his footing back, and looks back to see Skywalker with his lightsaber in hand.

"Ya' know, Ahsoka mentioned you're a stubborn man. And she also told me to not harm you, I suppose you're not going to make things easy."

Anakin said nothing and charged the SPARTAN with his blade ready for the kill, however he watches the seven foot soldier quickly vanish into thin air right before his eyes, he makes a swing at where his opponent once stood but it was an expected miss. The clones backed away not sure where Longarm had gone but soon enough Anakin was dealt a heavy blow to his stomach causing him to keel over with excess bodily fluid dripping from his mouth, his mind raced trying to think of any logical way he avoided detection via the force but it didn't matter to the Jedi once he sees the SPARTAN's black boot materialize in front of his eyes.

He began to painstakingly climb back up on his feet while Longarm watched him and did nothing to stop him from getting back up, once he was back on his feet the SPARTAN asks "You had enough?"

Anakin said nothing and then quickly launched a burst of force energy directed towards his dangerous opponent, throwing the SPARTAN across the hangar once more and into another stack of crates that tumbled over.

Longarm gets back up on his feet with no difficulties and stows his staff back on to his shoulder as he said "Alright . . . I've had enough of this" before drawing his sniper rifle from his back.

Skywalker then realized he was in serious trouble should his adversary land a successful shot, which he would have no problem doing, and decided to dash towards him before he could pull the trigger. Longarm had already lined up the shot with the crosshairs directly on Skywalker's torso as he sprinted across the hangar floor and begins to press his finger against the trigger when his helmet's audio receptors picked up a door opening and footsteps running in.

And then he hears Ahsoka's voice "LONGARM NO!"

He didn't have time to even look at her as Anakin was closing the gap rapidly, he gives a short groan in frustration and tosses his rifle aside sparing the Jedi a fatal shot to the chest, and readied himself for hand to hand combat. Skywalker reaches within two meters of the SPARTAN, who cocked his right arm back to deliver a debilitating blow, and began to fight dirty. He uses the force and throws Longarm high up into the air before brutally slamming him down against the floor, leaving a large dented impression, before he began smashing the SPARTAN into everything from walls and ceilings to crates and other utility equipment.

Ahsoka watched as Longarm was thrown about hitting everything with sheer force and looks down at her former master calling out "Anakin stop!"

But he did not hear her over the chaos he was creating with the human sized wrecking ball until he pulls Longarm up in front of him and began to choke him, the SPARTAN struggled to maintain his breath but he was waiting for this particular moment and draws his M6G again taking aim.

Ahsoka saw the gun and started running with Obi-wan and Cody in an attempt to save the two from killing each other, however they were too late when Longarm pulled the trigger sending a round towards Skywalker's left arm where the bullet grazed across his upper arm forcing him to let go of his strangling grip on him.

The SPARTAN fell to the floor on his hands and knees, letting his magnum clatter against the floor, as he gasps for air. Skywalker however was not intending of ending it with a bullet graze to his arm, he grabs hold of Longarm once more with the force and slams his head down hard against the floor with such force that it knocked him unconscious.

Anakin prepares his lightsaber again this time for the final blow but quickly enough Kenobi, Cody, and Rex swarmed the angered Jedi disarming him and holding him back with Obi-wan stating "That's enough Anakin!"

Rex adds "He's not worth it!"

Soon enough Skywalker ceases his aggression and backs off, he sees Ahsoka rush over to Longarm and kneel down next to him before he orders "Ahsoka get away from him!"

She looks up at her former master and asks with shock "What is wrong with you!? He's on our side!"

"He's a dangerous man! He should be in prison!"

Kenobi asks "Prison? The way you were behaving it looked like you were going to send him somewhere that's more than a prison, report back to the ship and we'll discuss this later."

Skywalker argued "Master!? What about Ahso—"

"I will handle her . . . now is a good time for you to leave."

Anakin glanced at Tano who was looking back at him with a much disappointed look in her eyes, he had nothing more to say and left along with Rex and the 501st, Obi-wan and Cody then came to Ahsoka and kneeled down beside the SPARTAN who was beginning to wake up from his brief moment of darkness.

"Longarm you alright?" she asks with concern.

The SPARTAN-ll grumbled "Rgh . . . yeah . . ." and grabbed his discarded magnum holstering it before he started to slowly get back up.

Kenobi states as he watches Longarm "Careful now, you could've suffered a concussion."

"I'll be fine . . ." he replies rubbing the back of his helmet.

Tano asks "What was all this about?"

"At first it seemed he was pretty steamed about the situation outside."

"Yes, we lost two escort cruisers to the blast. I can't say exactly that I'm thrilled over the destruction of the droid fleet but . . . thank you for aiding us" Obi-wan says gratefully in the end.

Ahsoka gave a gentle smile "We're happy to help Master Kenobi, I just wish we could've done better to save those two cruisers."

"Agreed . . . now to discuss the terms of payment."

Longarm quickly asks "Payment?" he turns to Tano "You didn't say anything about payment."

"It may have slipped my mind. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine . . . about that payment?"

"Yes we'll transfer the credits over to your account if that is what you wish."

"Uh send it to Ahsoka, she can put them to better use."

Kenobi raised an eyebrow wondering why a mercenary like Longarm would decline the payment, nonetheless he says "Very well have it your way, we'll transfer the funds to Tano and we'll be sure to contact you again if we ever need you again."

The SPARTAN nodded "Looking forward to it" he looks down at Tano one last time and asks "You want to go talk to Skywalker . . . before we head out?"

She looks up at the door hatch Skywalker and his men walked through and gave some thought before she solemnly says "No . . . let's just go . . ."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	19. Drinks and recovery

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 19**

"**Drinks and Recovery"**

[Coruscant, Sector J-62]

[Two days later]

Cain Komari and his good friend, Lador Mattis, were traveling through the heavily populated concourse of Sector J-62 towards one of their favorite places to visit, a local pub where the two Jedi had gone to before in their younger days, _Hazk's Cartel_.

Lador asks "Why are we visiting Hazk? There was another bar much closer to the temple than here."

The Cerean replies "Because I believe Hazk can help us with our new problem."

"You mean this 'SPARTAN' you've been talking about? I thought you were hunting a sith?"

"I still am, but recent events made it clear to me that this new threat must be dealt with immediately, and besides I haven't had Hazk's special liquor in ages."

The two already passed through the plaza coming up onto their destination which was a small cantina built into the side of a large housing complex with several civilians standing outside next to their speeders and bikes, some of the people there were armed with blaster pistols, as they watched the two new arrivals head inside through the front door. Once inside, the two Jedi found the place to be packed with varying species commonly seen on Coruscant, they headed for an empty booth located along the right wall and took their seats. Once they sat down it wasn't long before Cain's old friend, and proud owner of the establishment, Hazk arrived and greeted them.

Hazk spoke starting with a light hiss "SsCain Komari . . . it has been a while . . ."

Komari looked back at Hazk "Likewise dear friend."

Hazk was a Trandoshan, a species easily recognized by their lizard like appearance and renowned for their warlike nature and superb regenerative abilities. Standing at six and a half feet tall with brown skin, complemented with green stripes across his body, and red eyes with black horizontal slit pupils, Hazk and Komari were very good acquaintances with one another.

"Sso what brings you back here after so many years?" the bartender asks.

Cain gave his usual charismatic smile of his "Your special and a job opportunity you might want to hear."

Hazk took a brief moment to think before saying "Alright then . . . I'll be back in a moment" and left for the moment.

With Hazk gone Lador glances at Komari and asks "Are you sure he can handle something like this?"

Cain answers "No but I am confident he knows someone that can."

"Bounty hunters? If what you say about this 'Longarm' is true then we need a military force to handle this, perhaps the Republic can –"

"That is out of the question Mattis, yesterday I've received a report from Eva and Agos who was close by in the Null sector and from what I understood, Master Obi-wan Kenobi and Longarm are becoming good acquaintances much like Hazk and I, and he has begun to earn a good reputation for aiding the Republic twice. This has to be done by a neutral party."

"Then why are we trying to get rid of him if he is helping the Republic? Thanks to him we took the shipyard and got Toydaria to join us."

"True . . . but this man wields such a power that should not be wielded at all. He can easily bring ruin to us all without discrimination."

The Trandoshan returns with three mugs, two for the Jedi and one for himself, and hands them out to his friends before sitting down next to Cain and ask "These are on the house, now what about this job?"

Cain took a sip from his mug and answers "There's someone that needs to disappear by any means necessary" he then pulls out his portable holoprojector and sets on the table before it activates showing a hologram of a heavily armored being.

Hazk examined the hologram carefully before stating "Hmm . . . the armor resembles that of a clone's. This shouldn't be too hard."

"If only that were true old friend, this being is affiliated with no one but himself. His name is Longarm, standing at around seven feet tall with heavy platted battle armor fitted with its own personal shielding that far surpasses what you see on the black market."

"Weapons?"

"Mainly slugthrowers but even those are extremely deadly even when compared to military grade blasters, and judging from the weapon I've seen him with it would seem that he is a marksman with extraordinary skills."

"What about training?"

"I can safely assume it's military but one with extreme measures."

"Alright, does he have a ship?"

Cain and Lador looked at each other for the briefest moment before the Cerean presses a button on the projector changing the hologram from a seven foot SPARTAN to a four hundred eighty five meter warship.

Hazk couldn't believe his eyes when he said "H-h-ho I understand your methods and beliefs Komari and I hope you forgive me for saying this but this vessel is a marvel to behold, beautiful design if I do say so myself . . ."

Komari shifted uncomfortably but he could understand the trandoshan's love for weapons, he replies "Tell me what you see Hazk . . ."

The trandoshan bartender looked further and notes "Well . . . I definitely can see several turret emplacements, presumably turbo lasers, a single ventral hangar probably large enough to hold a couple of dropships or a gunship. Missile pods by the look of some of these 'spots' along the hull, heavy armor, and a set of forward mounted dual heavy turbo laser emplacements but I've never seen any of that size."

Cain chuckled "You're wrong on two details, those turret emplacements are not turbo lasers, in fact those are a type of mass drivers that act as the ship's anti-fighter armament. And those two heavy weapon emplacements are what our target calls a magnetic acceleration cannon, powerful enough to destroy a separatist frigate."

"Really? Not to doubt your accusations but I find that to be ludicrous."

The Cerean casually presses another button on the projector which began playing a recording of the skirmish over Saleucami between the destroyer _Vanguard_ and the frigate _Justification_, lasers were shot and missiles were launched. But what took Hazk by surprise were the two MAC rounds fired from the _Vanguard_ that destroyed the Munificent-class Star Frigate outright.

"What I wouldn't do to have a warship like that" Hazk comments.

"If you did then you know I'll be coming for you" Komari remarks.

"What do you mean? It doesn't look that dangerous, I know some starships that can put it down."

Cain sighs and presses the same button this time showing a more recent recording of the battle in the Null Sector, it was then when the trandoshan witnesses the utter devastation of a massive separatist fleet and the raw power of the SHIVA-class Nuclear Missile launched from the _Vanguard_.

The recording ends showing nothing but shattered warships and Hazk finally comes down to business "Alright . . . how much are you willing to pay for this guy's head?"

"Hazk, you know better that credits is not an object for me, I'll pay whatever price it takes."

The trandoshan started to rub his scaly chin "Eh of course it isn't . . . you have any clues as to where he is now?"

"This recording was taken two days ago, he could be anywhere in the galaxy by now."

"Ok . . . is there anything you're left out that could help us find him?"

"Nothing to help you find him but only an advisory and a warning."

"Alright let's hear 'em" Hazk asks when he notices an approaching figure, not getting a good look to make out details.

"This fellow, Longarm, is in a league all his own. My best recommendation is that this mission requires team effort, should a man go alone then he faces certain death. The warning is that your target is accompanied by a former Jedi."

"A Jedi huh? Who's the moronic fool of a man to be traveling with someone like this?"

"The man is a woman, a togruta, and her name is Ahsoka Tano. I want her unharmed no matter what, this is a matter she was unfortunately caught up in and I wish to see no harm come to her."

Hazk nodded understanding the situation and said "Alright . . . I'll post the bounty and the details up on the board, but I can't guarantee everything will go like you want it."

Komari placed his hand on his trandoshan friend's shoulder and says "Thank you friend" he then picks up his mug "Now let us drink like the good old days . . ."

Hazk and Lador grabbed their mugs and raised them "To the good old days . . ." clinking the mugs together before drinking.

It was then when Hazk finally gets a look at the approaching figure, a blue female twi'lek with a very attractive body build and face, beautiful blue eyes, and wearing a lightly padded mercenary outfit with her lower waist exposed showing more of her body.

The twi'lek came over and sits down in Lador's lap, crossing her legs, without him expecting it and puts her arm around his broad shoulders asking with a soothing voice "Buy a girl a drink?"

Lador, shocked and somewhat moved by her voice replies "I would love to dear, but unfortunately I left my credits back at the temple . . ."

The girl giggled "Oh a Jedi hmm?" she then ever so gently took his mug out of his hands and took a sip of it before setting it down on the table and ask "What's someone like you doing in a place like this?"

Hazk and Cain watched as they drank while trying not to spurt out the alcohol in their mouths laughing, Mattis's surprised expression was priceless, and Hazk finally says "Ya' know . . . I could show you a good time."

She smiled "Hmm I know you could . . . but you're not my type."

"Ouch . . . for a trandoshan, that stings" Hazk states before taking a big gulp from his mug while Cain let out a good laugh.

Mattis then answers the girl's question "We're here seeing an old friend."

"Hmm . . . care to make some new friends?" she asks as she runs her smooth hands around the back of his head.

"Well . . . I don't know about that . . ." Lador states now feeling a bit nervous.

Cain finally steps in to help his friend out of the 'tight' situation "I'm sorry miss, but Lador here isn't the ladies man if you understand my meaning."

The twi'lek turned her head towards Komari and says "Oh well that's a shame . . . I really wondered what it was like to be with a Jedi . . ."

Cain finishes his drink and says "That is a shame indeed."

It was then when he sets his empty mug on the table before looking up at her in the eyes and noticed something rather unusual and quite disturbing, typically a twi'lek's eyes were of many colors but this one particularly different, her former blue eyes were now a fiery red-rimmed yellow. A telltale sign of the dark side.

Komari quickly stands up reaching for his lightsaber when the woman grabbed Mattis's cup and splashes whatever alcohol left inside into Hazk's sensitive eyes, who then jumped up roaring out in pain, and conks Lador over the head with it before jumping out of the booth and make a break for the front door.

"What the hell!?" Lador cries out rubbing the top of his head with his hand while watching Hazk go into a frenzy trying to get the alcohol out of his eyes while accidently knocking tables and partisans over.

"See to Hazk!" Cain orders before making a dash for the door after the runaway twi'lek.

He bursts through the door and looked out into the bustling crowd in front of him vigilantly searching until he spotted the woman's two blue headtails as she attempts to flee through the crowds, he bolts after her expertly moving through the public with haste pushing some people aside that were in the way. Once he reached the other side of the concourse he sprints after the twi'lek that was not too far ahead of him but once he began to run after her he watches her bust through a pair of troopers of the Coruscant Guard and they too began to give chase.

Several moments of running and he catches up with the two troopers and orders "Set your weapons to stun, I want her alive!"

"Right away Sir!" the trooper to his left as he sets his DC-15A rifle to stun just moments before they entered another plaza, wide and nearly void of pedestrians this time.

The clone then fell into a crouched stance taking aim, once he lined up his rifle he yelled "Taking the shot!" and fired an electric pulse, taking the form of a light blue ring, his accuracy proved true when the shot struck the runaway in the back highlighting her entire body a bright blue before she fell to the ground.

Komari and the troopers soon caught up and began examining the woman for any physical damage other than cuts and bruises when she hit the ground, one of the trooper reports "We'll take it from here Master Komari, thanks for the assist."

"Don't be too hasty just yet . . ." Cain replies as he kneels down and opens the woman's eyelids to find them pure blue once more.

He used the force around him and felt no signs of the darkness within her which was extremely odd but he knew who was capable of doing something like this, a sith that goes by the name of Slavior. Though he doesn't know if Slavior was in league with Dooku but he knew that there was a rising darkness overshadowing the Republic and their darkest days will soon be upon them.

[UNSC _Vanguard_, Rolion Sector, Fenion System]

On Deck seven, medbay 2-B, Sierra-121 and Ahsoka were waiting for Percival's report from the MRI scanning he performed over the past two days on the SPARTAN's health since this defeat at the hands of Tano's former master, Anakin Skywalker.

Ahsoka was sitting on one of the beds in the bay while Longarm stood several feet away watching out through the viewport as stars twinkled in the distance in silence, she then broke that silence and asks "How much longer Percy?"

"A few more moments, I'm just going over the last few details and crossing them over to see if they fit with UNSC standard requirements . . ."

She looks over to see the towering soldier without his helmet on, she seemed surprised that he wasn't complaining about the same thing but she supposed that's what happens when he fails to do something, in this case besting Skywalker. She looks down beside her to see his MJOLNIR EOD helmet sitting next to her, she picks it up in her hands and examined the features on it from the obvious black finish to the tiniest of details such as carvings and battle damages from earlier battles perhaps dating far back into the war with the Covenant before he arrived in her galaxy. She looks back up to Longarm one last time before the AI finally chimed in and gave his reports.

"Well SPARTAN, your overall body is in good shape as always, nothing's broken or torn and there's no tumors or swellings around the brain that would indicate a concussion or abnormality . . . I say you're cleared for duty once again."

"Good, I'll be down in the gun range if anyone needs me" Longarm replies as he turns away from the viewport window and walked out of the med bay.

Ahsoka stood up from the bed and was about to follow but Percival stopped her asking "Wait a moment Ahsoka, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about."

Tano stopped and soon enough on a pedestal behind a holographic figure constructed itself out of thin air, appearing as a British military officer from the first world war, she turns and literally sees the AI for the first time and states "Huh . . . I didn't know you had a 'body' . . ."

"This is my avatar and there's only a few select places where I can appear to the naked eye, putting that aside I have a favor to ask of you, a great one at that."

"Sure Percy, what is it?"

"I've been currently working on some calculations and running star maps to locate our own galaxy, once I do locate it I'll see if there's a way for us to go home where we belong."

"Ok that's great . . . but what do you need me for?"

"Well . . . there's too many variables involved for intergalactic travel and if our worst fears are confirmed then we need to be there for each other, Longarm most of all. I need you to comfort him and be a friend for him to help soften the blow if the worst happens."

"Haven't I been doing that for some time now?"

"Yes in your point of view, but to Longarm you're currently just a reliable asset in combat."

"Ouch Percy . . . that's kinda low."

"Well it counts for something doesn't it? But trust me if the worst does come he's going to take it pretty hard, you understand that he feels a lot of guilt for not being back home where he belongs fighting the Covenant right?"

"Yeah . . . he seemed distracted whenever he starts to talk or think about it."

"Well he needs someone he can call a friend to rely on if it happens and I can only do so much the way I am, being an artificial intelligence and such."

"Alright . . . yeah no problem I can do that."

"Thank you . . . that's all for now. Carry on" the AI finishes with a dutiful salute before his avatar dissipates from view.

Ahsoka grinned for a moment looking down at the helmet in her hands before walking out of the medbay to find Longarm down in the gun range.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	20. Shooting range

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 20**

"**Shooting range****"**

[UNSC _Vanguard_, Rolion Sector, Fenion System]

On Deck eleven, Ahsoka was nearing the gun range when she began to hear muffled three round bursts of ballistic gunfire, she comes up to a bulkhead hatch where it opens and allows her to walk inside where the gun shots were much louder. She found Longarm standing behind a firing post wielding a BR55HB Battle Rifle firing in controlled three round bursts downrange towards his appearing and disappearing targets lined throughout the entire bay. She said nothing but took up a spot and watched the SPARTAN shoot down targets that appears from the floor, walls, and ceilings take the shape of different alien species, some of which she didn't recognize but others she remembered all too well from her vision little over a week ago, such as the large bipedal figures with the quadruple hinged mandibles hanging from their heads.

He fires his last three shots striking one of the smaller aliens in the head seconds before a bell rang signaling the end of the session and Percival reports "Twenty three point eight seconds, targets killed fifty seven. That's a new record SPARTAN."

Longarm pulls the bolt back locking it in place and ejects the magazine out of the rifle before setting them down again and order "Reset."

"Of course, resetting system."

She approaches him gave him a pat on the shoulder grabbing his attention and holds up his helmet in her hand "You forgot something" she said.

The SPARTAN looks down at his helmet and gently takes it out of her hands before putting it back on and replied "Thanks."

"So, what're you doing here?"

Longarm was walking towards the back wall where a gun rack, containing an array of UNSC weaponry, was mounted "What does it look like?"

She looks behind her seeing the multiple targets slowly retract to their former positions before turning back to him "Looks like you're having a little fun."

He turns around facing her with an M7 SMG in his right hand "I suppose you can say that" before tossing the weapon into the air towards the young togruta where she catches it and examines the weapon in her hands. The M7|Caseless Submachine Gun was a very lightweight firearm specifically designed for close quarters combat among UNSC special forces, the weapon was about eighteen inches long with its retractable stock pressed up against the main housing and featured iron sights and a built-on foregrip for improved aiming and stability, the barrel was awfully short but she guessed it helped its close quarters factor by giving the user better movement through confined spaces.

Longarm hands her a small metal magazine stating "The M7 Submachine Gun fires five millimeter caseless full metal jacket rounds at up to nine hundred rounds a minute, a single magazine carries sixty."

She looked at the magazine seeing a small hole on the bottom side and sees another on the left side of the SMG's main housing, she quickly puts two and two together and gently slides the magazine into place where locks with a distinct click, she then switches to the right side of the weapon and firmly pulled the charging handle back before letting it slide back forward loading the first of sixty rounds into the firing chamber.

She looks up at Longarm who gave an approving nod and gestured over to her firing post where she readies herself by readjusting the stock to her size and press it against her shoulder, she then heard the SPARTAN call out "Alright Percival start it up."

"Acknowledged . . . beginning program" the AI states followed up with an alarm sounding off signaling the start.

The first target emerged from the floor, a stubby little creature with greyish thick skin, red eyes, orange armor covering its chest, a rebreather over its mouth, and a large triangular air tank on its back as it wielded some sort of energy weapon, Longarm states "Unggoy, also called Grunts, they're cannon fodder for the Covenant Army and are the lowest ranking species in their alliance. They're weak and timid individually and will run when their commanding officer is killed, but they make up for that in sheer numbers and can overwhelm a defensive position despite the losses they suffer."

Ahsoka takes aim looking down the weapon's iron sights and pulls the trigger letting loose a volley of rounds downrange causing her to lose control of the weapon before letting go of the trigger and stating with a somewhat amused smile "That escalated quickly."

"Use short controlled bursts, press down on the trigger for one second and let go, press and let go" Longarm explains with care.

She lines up the weapon once more and presses down on the trigger for a single second firing off a more controllable short accurate burst of fire effectively striking the target across the chest, the target retracted back down into the floor as she readies herself for the next target.

The next target appeared from the right wall, this one with a bird-like appearance with sandy scaly skin, light armor all around its fragile body, its left hand carried a weapon similar to the grunt's but its right arm carried a gauntlet that was emitting a plasma shield that was colored blue, Longarm went on "Kig-yar, or Jackals, these guys are quick on their feet as they are merciless. They're more of hired mercenaries rather than religious believers and they're typically marksman and snipers, though they can be a little bloodthirsty in the latter, and they're normally seen carrying a shield gauntlet to protect themselves from incoming fire."

Tano examined every aspect of the Jackal target until she notices its left hand was exposed through a small gap along the shield's rim, presumably a hole for the jackal to fire through, and took aim before firing off a burst striking the target in the hand resulting in a clean hit and the jackal retracted back to the wall. She looks back at Longarm behind him with his arms crossed and he gave a good nod showing that she was making good progress.

The next target appeared this time from the ceiling, appearing as a large insect with wings and armed with the usual armament like the others she has seen before, "Yanme'e, or typically drones, much like every other bug they work together in swarms using their speed and ability to fly to gain the advantage over their enemies. They're easy to take down as long as you have enough bullets to take down an entire swarm."

The target began moving back and forth at a decent pace forcing Ahsoka to start tracking it through her iron sights before she lets off a few more bursts striking the target multiple times before it retracted back into the ceiling, she turns and states with a grin "This is too easy big guy."

"Alright then, here's your next target."

Tano turns around once more to see what she actually feared the most since her vision, a hulking behemoth adorned in blue ironclad armor, dark grey saurian skin, digitigrade legs, quadruple-hinged mandibles hanging from their heads with sharp teeth lining the insides, and piercing narrow vertical slit eyes.

"The Sangheili, and respectfully called Elites, these elite soldiers make up the backbone of the entire Covenant military from commanding small squads of Unggoy to leading entire fleets into battle, they're quick and ruthless towards their enemies using their superior combat skills and their tactical minds to their advantage. Though they have a soft spot for honor meaning if you throw your gun aside and raise your fists, you can sure bet the split-jaw's going to do the same. Their armor has a built-in shielding unit much like us SPARTANs and they're known to carry heavier armament and even an energy sword for close and personal touches."

She takes aim lining the sights onto the alien's center chest and pulls the trigger but there was no loud crack of gunfire, only a little click from inside the weapon, she pulls the weapon away from her shoulder and takes the magazine out to find it empty. While she admired the weapon for its ability to quickly take down targets and hold a large amount of ammo compared to the rest, she couldn't get use to the full automatic that can easily go out of control and possibly inflict harm on friendly personnel.

She sets the weapon down on the table in front of her and turns to Longarm asking "You have something more controllable?"

The SPARTAN thought for a moment before coming up with a solution "Yeah I think I have something . . . wait here" and left the firing range towards the nearby armory.

"What do you think he's getting Percy?" she asks as the hatch closes behind the SPARTAN.

"I only have several ideas, let's try some of the other weapons until he comes back . . . you see that rifle he was wielding when you came in?"

She turns to see the empty battle rifle and starts walking over to it, "Pick it up" the AI instructed.

She takes the battle rifle into her hands, which obviously proved to be somewhat heavier than the light SMG; she examined the bullpup design of the rifle, the built-in ammo counter which displayed zero, the optical scope mounted on top of the rifle's optics rail, and the extended heavy barrel for more precise delivery of rounds. She looks down at the table in front of her and found one magazine loaded with thirty six 9.5x40mm semi-armor piercing rounds, she picks up the clip with her left hand while holding the rifle in her right, and inserts the magazine into the rifle's feed located in the stock before pushing the left sided charging handle forward thus readying the weapon for use. She returns to her original post and lines up her shot back on the Sangheili's chest, she looks through the rifle's scope attachment with 2x magnification and centers the crosshairs on target before squeezing the trigger letting out a quick burst fire of three rounds. The shots were on target and she realized that she felt minimum recoil despite the three high caliber rounds fired from the rifle unlike the rapid fire volleys the SMG puts out, she squeezes off another burst into the target when she began to enjoy this kind of weapon, the only complaint she had was its weight of 3.7 kilograms, soon enough she began firing off rounds striking her target repeatedly until it receded back into the floor and her ammunition was depleted.

She sets the rifle down just as Percival remarks "Eighty three point seven percent accuracy . . . well done for someone who hasn't held a rifle before."

"Thanks Percy, I like it but it's a bit heavy for what I'm used to."

The hatches open up once more and Longarm walks back in with two black polymer fabricated holsters, one holding a handgun and the other containing three magazines, and he approaches the young togruta and states "This should be more your style" setting them down on the table.

"What is it?" she asks as she watches the SPARTAN pull out a small handgun from the holster.

He holds out a small blocky handgun with a black polymer finish, there were no apparent attachment equipped, and pulls back on the slide on top of the weapon checking the opened firing chamber stating "This is the M6C Mangum Personal Defense Weapon System, it fires a 12.7mm semi-armor piercing rounds from a twelve round magazine. Semi-automatic, recoil operated, magazine-fed, this weapon can effectively engage a target at up to twenty three meters with minimum recoil, good rate of fire, and high controllability."

While demonstrating to Tano, he inserts a fresh magazine into the weapon and presses his thumb down on the slide release causing the magnum's slide to propel itself forward loading the first of twelve rounds into the chamber; he then takes the weapon by the top and holds out the pistol grip for her to take. She gently takes the weapon into her hand, letting the light weight to fall into her hands and realizing it is somewhat lighter than her own lightsabers, and then takes aim at a target of an Unggoy appearing from the left wall. She expertly looks down the enhanced iron sights and fires off her first shot downrange striking the target square in the head, all the meanwhile the gun slide automatically swinging backwards ejecting the hot spent casing and pushes back forward loading a new round into the chamber, she felt little recoil from the weapon but for such a high caliber weapon it seemed as if though it could've done a whole lot of damage to the Unggoy, if it were real.

"Wow . . . I didn't feel a thing" Tano said with some aspiration in her voice.

"Almost makes you think what the clone troopers have to compete with this doesn't it?"

"A little . . . but it's still no match for a lightsaber" she said setting the weapon on the table along with the battle rifle and submachine gun.

The SPARTAN crossed his arms "That may be true . . . but" he then reaches down and snatches her two lightsaber hilts from her waist belt to which she barks "Hey!"

He holds them both in one hand and asks "But what if you don't have your lightsabers on you? Perhaps if you lost them or you were disarmed in a combat situation?"

She attempts to take them back with a quick swing with her right arm but Longarm jerks the lightsabers back away from her prompting her to say "Jedi don't lose their lightsabers easily. Skywalker taught me 'This weapon is your life, don't _ever _lose it.'"

The SPARTAN nodded understanding the importance between a Jedi and their lightsaber and then states "Well . . . everyone has their days when something goes wrong. If that's the case then what do you have for a backup weapon?"

"We don't have one; we use the force to try and win the day or at least survive."

"True but you told me the other day that a force user requires concentration to effectively use it against the enemy. But concentration takes time and time is something you might not have in a fast-paced situation."

"What're you trying to tell me?"

"I want you to have that weapon, take the M6 and train with it. If there does come a time where your sabers are out of reach and you can't use the force in time, at least you'll have that as your last resort. Just like your weapon is your life, this one can define the chance between life and death."

He generously hands her two sabers back allowing her to put them back on herself before she picks up the M6C in her hands and then look at the two holsters lying next to the battle rifle, she sets the pistol down and took the two holsters putting them on around her two thighs, the weapon holster on her right and the additional magazines on her left, they proved to be more comfortable than she expected and ask "How do I look?"

Longarm looks down and briefly examines the two holsters and comments "They fit nicely by the looks of it . . ."

She gives a gentle smile before stating "C'mon, let's do a little more target practice. Bet I can beat you."

The SPARTAN chuckled as he picks up his battle rifle and states "You're on . . ."

However Percival breaks the moment stating "That will have to wait, I'm receiving an emergency distress call on an open frequency from a Republic cruiser nearby under attack. Putting it through now."

On the intercoms, a frightened clone officer's voice spoke through with minor static interference "_Mayday Mayday! This is the cruiser Royale we're under attack! An unidentified vessel has exited out of some portal and immediately open fired on us, we lost our escorts and we're taking heavy damage! What? We're being boarded!? Yes Sir! I repeat mayday mayday this is the Republic cruiser Royale and we're under attack! We require assistance immediately!"_

"Percy where is that coming from?" Tano said with an alarmed tone.

"Very close by within the outer rim of the system. The _Vanguard_ can be there in several minutes with the Gozanti's aid."

Longarm steps in "Alright do it, I want weapon systems online and counter-measures ready by the time we drop out."

"Consider it done . . . plotting course for the Cruiser _Royale_, spinning up FTL drive."

On that note the SPARTAN states "Ahsoka, get the cruiser ready for launch, they're going to need the extra firepower to fight off whoever the hell it is" before dashing out of the hatch making his way to the armory.

Ahsoka complied holstering her new M6C PDWS into its respectful position along her thigh and rushes out to make her way to the Gozanti for immediate combat.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	21. Ardent Prayer

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 21**

**"****_Ardent Prayer_****"**

[Republic Cruiser _Royale_, command bridge, Althir System]

Jedi Knight Kail Grodam, a human male in his late twenties, and a handful of his troopers from the 152nd Strike Regiment were shoring up their last line of defense inside the command center as the unknown attackers rampages through the cruiser killing all crewmembers with zealous resolve and brutality.

It was a mere ten minutes ago when an unidentified vessel similar in size to an Acclamator-l Assault Ship appeared exiting out of some sort of portal and immediately open fired without provocation catching the larger Venator-class Cruiser and its two Consular-class Cruiser escorts off guard and with their shields down. The two escorts were quickly destroyed outright within the first seconds after contact, the first being overwhelmed by fast maneuverable fighters firing bolts of superheated ionized plasma and green torpedo-like explosives and the second being viciously dissected by the warship's precise pulse laser weaponry cutting through the durasteel hull with extreme ease. It was only after the destruction of the two escorts did the Venator finally respond to the rapid surprise attack and let off a volley of cannon fire from its starboard mounted array of four DBY-827 Heavy Turbolaser Turrets, each containing two guns, striking the main warship all across the hull but unfortunately the cannons were only at minimum charge when they fired causing all of the shots fired to collide with the vessel's advanced energy shielding with only few shots passing through and striking the vessel along its large purple bulbous prow. The armor of the ship itself was unlike anything the Republic has ever encountered, a hull comprised of thick nanolaminate armor plating strong enough to withstand against a volley of Archer-class Ship-to-ship Missiles, the three shots comprised of minimally charged plasma slammed into the hull causing very little damage to the outer hull. The vessel then responded by launching four large superheated blobs of plasma from its port and starboard launchers, located near the front, and guided them in similar ways to a cruise missile leading them to the Venator's main armament where each projectile slams into each gun vaporizing the turrets themselves outright and causing massive structural damage to the multiple decks below the gun housings. By then the _Royale_ had already deployed its complement of fighters and bombers to engage the enemy but even they were failing miserably, despite the degree of success they gained after shooting down a fighter, and the attacking vessel had deployed gunships loaded with heavy anti-ship weaponry to destroy the cruiser's remaining weapon banks and troop dropships to begin their boarding procedure. As of now the troopers were gradually losing their ground against the seemingly unstoppable marauders with reports of varying unidentified species wielding unseen plasma weaponry, explosives, energy shielding, and military training. To Grodam, this was no ordinary group of pirates, these were highly coordinated military troops of a foreign faction unknown to the Republic, they were very effective in combat, and whoever was orchestrating this attack was a tactical genius.

A clone bridge officer rushes up to Grodam and reports "Sir! The enemy has pushed their way to the main hangar; the men are making a last ditch attempt to repel the boarders."

"May the force be with them, what's the status of the ship?"

"Our forces have been pushed back deep into the ship setting up makeshift barricades but the enemy just keeps tearing right through them, we even recorded an attack by an invisible contact in Deck five near the armories."

"Show me . . ."

The two proceeded over to the large holoprojector table where it began displaying the recording starting off with three troopers armed with blasters, one manning a EWHB-12 Heavy Repeating Blaster Cannon mounted on top of a large tripod, standing behind a makeshift barricade consisting of stacked up crates and empty cylinder canisters.

They were all standing there waiting for the enemy to come their way, the trooper on the right, armed with a DC-15A Rifle, asks "_Hey, what's second squad's status?_"

The one on the left, armed with a DC-15S Carbine, states "_They're gone; they held the line as long as they could. It's up to us to defend the armory._"

The one on the E-Web cannon was doing a last second recalibration of the weapon stating "_At least we'll have this to hold them back. If something happens to us I've got the turret to go on auto tracking set on a dead-man switch._"

"_Good plan, but let's hope it doesn't come to that._"

"_Shh . .__. you hear that?_"

"_Over there! Incoming!"_

Blaster fire erupted with the three clones firing away while bolts of plasma and needle-like shards zipping past over their heads, the attackers yelling out orders in their native languages to which nobody understood. It was only moments later into the fight when a needle pierces through one of the trooper's 'T' visor, killing him instantly, causing the trooper to stumble backwards and fall on to the floor dead without a sound.

The trooper wielding the DC-15S looks over to his dead brethren and calls out "_Ray!_" but the trooper manning the turret orders "_C'mon brother don't let up!_"

Ray resumes his post and continues firing downrange putting accurate shots on target as indicated by brief cries of agony until the right side of the barricade collapsed, as if something huge charged right through it like a battering ram, followed up with a sharp hiss and a loud cry of anguish. Ray looks to his right and finds parts of the barricade scattered about and two four foot long curved blades of pure energy protruding out of the gunner's chest, and a large distortion in the air nearly taking the shape of a large bipedal figure wielding the hilt of the sword that impaled his friend through the back. He immediately turns and aims at the distortion firing off four bolts into his target, each shot impacting a solid figure reinforced with energy shielding which eventually collapsed, and this massive hulking eight foot monster materializes into view. Wearing black armor with some of its body exposed, most notably its hunched over head with four mandibles lined with teeth hanging underneath, this creature was nothing like anyone has ever seen. The clone then acted on instinct and open fired shooting the sword wielding monster several times square in the chest before it lunged swinging the sword cutting the trooper's weapon in half and seizes the trooper by the neck holding him up above the floor as it tighten its grip around the man's neck. The trooper began throwing quick low blows to the alien's lower stomach with his right arm as he hangs on to its arm that has a hold of his neck, he then throws a quick right blow to the creature's head which then angered it greatly, the alien roared with rage and its mandibles spread wide showing the innumerable amount of razor sharp teeth and drives its dual bladed energy sword straight into the clone's abdomen cutting and burning every inch of plastoid armor and flesh it came into contact with which was met with a loud deafening outcry of utter pain lasting several seconds before the attacker withdraws the blade from the clone's body and threw the dead trooper down hard into the ground before it placed its right hoof on top of his fresh kill and roared upwards with its mandibles spread wide claiming victory. The E-web cannon then activated shortly afterwards and begun firing at its targets off screen but it didn't last when the giant drove its energy sword into the turret's power supply and shuts the gun down.

The hologram recording ended with blaster fire erupting outside the bridge entrance hatch to which Grodam orders calmly "We don't have much time men, prepare for combat."

The twelve armed troopers made their way into defensive positions all aiming their weapons directly at the only possible way onto the command bridge. The fighting outside intensified as the troopers barked orders and continued firing at the approaching force, they could hear the men die as they're shot or stabbed and suddenly the fighting ceased. The troopers around Grodam tensed up keeping their aim on the hatch waiting for it to be breached in some way until a pair of energy blades pierced through and began cutting through the durasteel metal forming a large door way for more than one being to fit through. The blade gradually cuts through until it reached its end point and retracts from the door, leaving only a melted line taking the shape of a large rectangle through the door, the men inside readied themselves for the worst and that's when the hatch exploded engulfing those few that were directly behind it or next to it in a bright blue florescent blast of plasma and radiation killing them instantly while knocking a few others onto their backs. The troopers that were close enough only to sustain minor injuries got back up and fell back to secondary positions alongside Grodam as thick smoke filled the empty space where the door once existed.

"Steady . . ." the Jedi Knight orders as his men prepared themselves to fight this unknown foe.

It was then when they heard talking in a language they never heard of and suddenly a small swarm of ten small aliens outfitted with light body armor, large cone-like tanks on their backs, rebreathers over their mouths, and each carrying a weapon that either glowed light green or neon pink. The first shots were fired with gaseous bolts of green plasma and needles flying past or striking a trooper, Grodam uses his blue lightsaber to deflect the incoming bolts realizing that in their gaseous state the bolts only dissipate rather than deflect much like any other weapon. The clones fired back easily putting the small stumpy attackers down rather quickly but not without casualties and injuries, then came somewhat larger beings with bird like appearances, some equipped with shielding gauntlets, and they started to open fire with weapons similar to the ones the first wave was using. The fighting intensified with the clones taking even more casualties while the attackers only started to suffer losses when their shields fell, it takes a skilled trooper three shots from his blaster to down an opponent's shielding and a fourth to effectively kill, and when the attackers' numbers fell, four new aliens, similar looking to their shield wielding cousins but featured black scaly skin and raptor like appearances, sprang out from behind the faltering line and quickly got up close with the troopers who were unfortunate enough to be their selected targets. These new kind attackers quickly and ferociously attacked using what weapons they carried with them but once they got close things became brutal, on one instance a clone to Grodam's right fired away at the approaching attacker but the creature used its naturally impressive mobility to swiftly dodge the bolts and charges straight for the kill pouncing on to the trooper, who fell onto the floor, with the help of its strong legs and bit down hard on the clone's neck joint where no armor was present to save his life. The creature then began to shake the trooper back and forth like a crazed animal as the man cried out for help in agony, a fellow trooper tried to knock the attacker off but another alien pounced on the aiding soldier and cut down through his chest with its razor sharp raptor claws on its feet and shot him to death with a rifle capable of firing blue bolts of plasma at a higher rate of fire. The first alien finishes off its victim with a bone crunching bite crushing the clone's windpipe and tearing up vital muscle and flesh forcing the mangled trooper to stop flailing and fall limp, only then did two troopers armed with carbines change their aim and gunned the attacker down putting multiple shots into its chest before it fell dead. The two remaining hyper-vector killers finished off their prey with ferocity before Grodam cuts one down in a single sweep and the other ditches its needle-like weapon and lunges towards the Jedi and ultimately failed when a nearby clone slams the butt of his rifle into the side of its face and guns it down while it laid on the floor before it could've gotten back up.

Silence quickly filled the room afterwards when a trooper calls out "Clear!"

Kail looks around the command bridge seeing the result of the fight finding twenty two dead aliens on the floor, and from twenty eight troopers originally defending the bridge only seven are still left standing, two of which are injured but still able. It was then when they began to hear a set of heavy footsteps approaching, the troopers gathered what little strength they had left for the next attack and Grodam readies his lightsaber, and soon five hulking giants, four in dark blue armor while the fifth was adorned in red, slowly appeared through the smoke, these large creatures were easily distinguished by their digitigrade legs, grey skin, and the quadruple-hinged mandibles lined with teeth. The five large beings stood there staring down at the comparatively small troopers and Jedi through their narrow slit eyes, the troopers kept their weapons raised not firing as they began to wonder why these large intimidating creatures hasn't open fired like the rest. Suddenly one alien raises its weapon and takes aim, the troopers quickly responded taking aim at it, but the one in red armor gently placed its left hand over the top of the other's weapon and pushes it down. Grodam saw this and knew these things weren't itching for a fight, at least not yet, and were perhaps willing to talk.

So he demands "Identify yourself at once. What do you seek in attacking a Republic warship?"

The red armored giant made no response other than a low growl before it began walking around the large central holotable that stood between the two groups; the creature did not take its eyes off of Kail for one second staring into his clear blue eyes with its own yellow narrow slit eyes. It came to a stop in front of the Jedi staring down at him with zealous hatred, it then tossed its blue bulbous weapon aside and then brought out its own hilt similar looking to the Jedi's though he had never seen one of that design before.

The creature snarled once more and then spoke in universal basic with a lone tone in its voice "We are creatures of the Covenant: the path is broad and we all walk it side by side. But you . . ." it growled viciously "Your destruction is the will of the gods . . ."

It then quickly gave its hilt a twitch, causing it to erect two four foot long curved blades of pure plasma with excess heat and energy flowing off of it like a gas, and finishes "And we . . . are their instruments . . ."

The clones slowly backed away hopefully to put distance between themselves and that sword but Jedi Knight Kail held his ground with his saber ready which caused the covenant soldier to change its attitude from spiteful hate to honest respect, it then spoke with a more calm tone "At least you have some sense of honor, unlike these . . . degenerates, and you can sense your end too . . . that is good human. If it brings you any peace, the rest of your kind will soon follow."

Now realizing that this 'Covenant' only intention is to kill, humans specifically, Kail readies himself for the inevitable strike just mere seconds before the creature lunged forward with superb speed driving its sword forward in a stabbing motion but the Jedi ducks out of the way and swings his saber towards the creature to hopefully land a good blow. But the alien proved just as quick as he was when it stopped dead in its tracks and swung its sword up to counter the incoming swing. The resulting clash from the two swords was wild, showers of bolts of electricity flashed uncontrollably as each sword's plasma containment field tried to hold their ground against one another in a vicious struggle. Grodam quickly took several steps back disengaging from the aggressive being but it comes right after him maintaining the pressure on the Jedi with its exceptional swordsmanship. The two continued to deliver swings and block throws as Kail continues backing up until he was eventually pinned at the front of the bridge where one can look through the viewports and see the ensuing battle rage on. It was then when the alien finally draws the first blood, a minor cut along Grodam's right arm, forcing the Jedi to drop his saber but he in turn uses the force and delivers a devastating blow launching the eight foot giant hurtling far back as it howled in fright and slams itself into the large holotable.

The Jedi recollected his saber and looks at the blue armored beasts, who all seemed to be dumbstruck after witnessing what just happened, the red giant however seemed humiliated and angered when it roared "TAKE HIM!"

The others raised their weapons and open fired killing several troopers before they fought back but sadly they all fell before even one of the aliens was killed, then the red giant and two of its accompanying men charged the Jedi, the blue ones flanking around from the sides and the red charging up the middle with anger in its eyes. Kail knew this was it and prepared himself to die protecting the Republic, but unfortunately this was no longer the alien's intention to kill the Jedi.

The blue one from Grodam's right threw a low jab to his stomach, causing the Jedi to keel over, and disarmed him before seizing his right arm and hold him up high above the floor where it then snarls "You dare to defy us filth? You will suffer for your sins."

But the red states "No . . . Artamee' would want this human for inquisition. I will take him to the ship . . ."

"What of the rest?"

The giants looked down in the pits seeing clone officers and operators looking up at them in fear, the red then states "Kill them . . ." before taking the Jedi into his custody and dragging him off the bridge as the other four readied their weapons and begun executing the defenseless bridge crew.

It was only after killing the last clone did one of the giants hear an incoming transmission being played over a communication station close by "_Republic Cruiser Royale this is the UNSC Vanguard, We're responding to your call ETA one minute standby._"

The creature growled with a somewhat amused expression on its face as it states "Finally . . . a challenge after so long . . ."

[Covenant corvette _Ardent Prayer_, Command bridge]

Sav 'Artamee, a Sangheili adorned in the rare golden ranger-class armor and de-facto leader of the Covenant forces after the untimely demise of Ardo 'Moretumee at the hands of a bold SPARTAN-lll and a handful of marines, stood aboard the command bridge standing in front of the large holoprojection unit displaying the crippled Republic Cruiser with his arms crossed as he ponders about his next move.

A fellow Sangheili operating a console speaks in their native language "Sire, Major 'Lokutamee reports he brings a prisoner from the human ship. He speaks of things that require your attention."

"Have him escort the prisoner down to the detention bay along with our other guest; I will be there shortly to resume my efforts with the demon."

Soon a fellow Sangheili named Raku 'Kalomee, adorned in white pearlescent armor and Sav's second-in-command, steps up and asks "Sav, it has been a great deal many cycles since the incident long ago and the demon has not uttered a word other than taunts and idle threats. Why do we not just kill it already and be done with it?"

"Because brother, unlike you I have far greater patience in dealing with these humans. As long as he still breathes he still holds vital intelligence that would help us along our way with the destruction of his kind. And we know that everyone has their limits, even him."

Another crewmember reports "Sire! A human vessel has been detected coming out of the void, hull classification matches to a Human Attack Ship Class D-lll."

"Class D-lll? Are you certain?" Sav asks puzzled as to why an old destroyer like that is still in service with these larger and more technologically advanced cruiser such as the one they are currently attacking.

"There is no doubt; it is currently on an intercept course as we speak."

'_For so many years without a sight of these attack ships and now one decides to show itself to us, but why?_'Sav thought to himself before giving the order "Send our fighters to intercept that ship at once, I want it boarded and the data ripped from their data storage."

"As you wish Sire."

[_UNSC Vanguard_]

"Warning: Covenant signature detected. Hull classification matches a SDV-Class Heavy Corvette" Percival states after reconfirming the data three times already.

"What!? Covenant!?" Longarm states while he was inside the armory gathering his weapons originally believing he was going to fight droids.

"I'm afraid so SPARTAN . . ."

"Well . . . I can't exactly say I'm surprised, in fact I've been waiting to fight these bastards again. Have you informed Ahsoka?"

"Yes, she's currently waiting by the airlock. The enemy corvette is currently holding position along the cruiser's starboard aft and Covenant troops are pouring into the ship."

The SPARTAN sighed briefly as he switches his BR55HB Battle Rifle for a MA5C Assault rifle stating "We'll handle that Percival. What's the status on the cruiser?"

"Weapon systems are down and its fighter complement is heavily engaged with Seraph-class fighters and Banshee interceptors, what's the plan?"

"Ahsoka and I are going to take the Gozanti and head for the cruiser's ventral docking bay and repel the Covenant boarders, no doubt they'll be searching for star maps and data regarding UEG worlds."

"But this is a Republic warship; they don't have records of any UNSC worlds."

"Yeah, but they don't know that" he finally states grabbing the ammunition he needed before heading out to meet with Ahsoka near the airlock to the Gozanti-class Cruiser on the port side of the destroyer.

It was several minutes later when he spots the young togruta standing next to the airlock and she sees him bringing a lot of weapons to this particular fight such as the short and stocky MA5B Assault Rifle with a sixty round magazine in his hands, a M45 Tactical Shotgun latched on his back, two M7 SMGs attached to his thighs, a M6G in its holster on his chest, three M9 Fragmentation Grenades in their respective pouches around his waist, his DC-15S carbine connected to his lower back, his sharpened combat knife under his left shoulder, and his electro-staff placed on his left shoulder pad.

"Sheesh you look like you're ready for a one man war . . ." she comments after seeing all that kind of firepower.

Longarm came to a stop and opens the hatch leading into the docking tube stating with sarcasm "I'm just eager to see all my good buddies again."

"Then I guess we're ready to go."

The SPARTAN kindly gestures with his hand for Ahsoka to step through the docking tube first before he follows. Once they were aboard the cruiser they detached from the destroyer and made their way out when they at first hand saw the critical state of the Venator-Class Star Destroyer and the Covenant corvette distinguished by its smooth bulbous purple hull.

"Whoa . . . looks like your covie friends don't like the Republic all too much" she comments as she watched the ensuing fight rage on.

Longarm's mind kicked into gear as he orders "Send power to weapons and shields, banshees are easy to deal with but those Seraphs are going to make things hell for us."

"On it."

"Percival get me a line to whoever is still alive on the cruiser, I don't care who it is."

The AI states "Consider it done. I'm patching you in with a Commander Palon."

Moments later did a clone's voice, mixed in with heavy blaster fire, echo through the SPARTAN's helmet "C'mon men keep it up!"

Longarm then spoke "Commander, this is Sierra-121 of the UNSC _Vanguard_. We're station ready to assist."

"Copy that! These things just came out of nowhere and started boarding the cruiser!"

"Is the ventral hangar bay secured?"

"Yeah we're positioned not too far from there, I can have a couple of men meet you there."

"That won't be necessary, we'll be docking there while the _Vanguard _engages the enemy."

An explosive blast roars out from the commander's end of the transmission "Negative! Negative! Those things took General Grodam prisoner aboard their ship!"

"I'm afraid your general is lost, these guys don't keep prisoners very lo—"

Ahsoka quickly shoots him a look hissing "Longarm!"

He looks over to see her with her scornful look and states "We'll see what we can do about that Commander but I can't guarantee anything."

"Anything you can do will help us out, I'll see you soon!"

The transmission ends as the Gozanti slowly makes its final approach to the ventral docking bay and Longarm asks "Did you get that Percival?"

"Yes, diverting power to engines and countermeasures, I should also note I'm picking up a faint IFF tag from inside the corvette. It could be our missing general but this one seems too familiar."

"See what you can do about that, we're coming up in the docking bay now."

"Right."

The channel fell silent prompting the SPARTAN to return back to the situation at hand as Ahsoka states while flipping switches and pushing buttons "Beginning docking procedure and . . . we're secured. Let's go see about helping the boys out."

Minutes passed and the two were already walking aboard, rifle and sabers in hand, expecting initial hostile contact but the long corridors were empty and partially silent were it not for the distant firefights echoing off the walls. The two walked down the only corridor present to them with some speed, Ahsoka being somewhat casual and Longarm briskly, making their way to the nearest source of gunfire to aid the clones in their fight with the Covenant.

The SPARTAN had to ask "Why did you do that?"

She turns her head towards him "Do what?"

"That look you shot me when I said about the Covenant keeping prisoners."

"The men needs to have hope in winning this fight against your old enemy. Isn't that what your kind relied on when you fought them?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

An explosion echoes off in the distance forcing the two to go into a sprint towards the source of the blast feeling the clones could be in a tight spot in their defense against the alien onslaught. The two were coming up on a three way intersection seeing blue and green bolts of plasma fly by coming from the left, Longarm flips the safety off on his MA5B cloaking himself and Ahsoka readies her lightsaber as she turns the corner to see a straggling few troopers hold their ground behind a broken makeshift barricade. She rushes up to the frontline with the pinned troopers and began deflecting shots fired from the incoming soldiers.

Quickly enough the shooting stopped and she found herself being the only thing standing between the pinned and injured troopers and a whole swarm of aliens she recognized from her vision and shooting range aboard the _Vanguard_. The small but numerous Grunts stood behind their higher ups with anxiety ready to shoot, Jackals and Skirmishers vigilantly watching her ready to shoot the moment she makes a move, and the towering Elites looking down at her with a somewhat amused look on their faces.

The leading Sangheili, adorned in a standard blue combat harness, calls out in its native language "Basu? Basu tan shweemu'!? Art ta mayo human aus basu wasee!" (_A girl? They send a girl? These pathetic humans send a young girl to fight us!_)

She didn't understand those words but it was clear to her, when they began to laugh, that this was pathetic. That was until the grunts started to tremble in fear, the jackals started to act skittish and the skirmishers squawked angrily, and finally the Sangheili's laughing face was quickly replaced with shock and then sheer anger and hatred.

It became apparent to her that they were now staring at something behind her but then the elite snarled in a low raspy voice speaking basic "Demon . . ."

Tano didn't know this 'demon' they're referring to until she turned and found Longarm standing next to her with his rifle in hand staring into the Sangheili's eyes, he orders calmly "Ahsoka, take the men and help the others retake the ship."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to get reacquainted with some old friends, don't worry about me."

She didn't bother to ask anymore and fell back to the troopers where she rallied them and led them away while the two factions, that had been waging war for the past three decades, vanished from sight for another five years, and are now facing each other down right in the eyes once again after so long.

"I have been waiting many cycles for this opportunity demon . . ." the Sangheili growled.

"So have I . . ." the SPARTAN before raising his rifle up to bear.

Neither side moved for a full silent minute until the elite drew his energy sword causing the SPARTAN-ll to start running and firing his rifle on full automatic beginning his one man assault against the Covenant boarders. He unloads the first forty six rounds into the elite, shattering his shields and piercing his armor and bodysuit, reducing him into a pile of riddled flesh and continues running and gunning shooting up the next six soldiers before ducking into a doorway, reload his weapon, and charges back out firing away killing numerous covenant soldiers in rapid succession. The exhilarating rush of adrenaline and nostalgia, after nearly five years of absence, comes coursing back through his veins as each soldier dies by his hands, every ounce of purple, and blue blood flowing from the dead, every sound of an individual bullet fired from his rifle ,and every scream or outcry of agony and death he hears. The rush and the feeling of killing every covenant bastard he ever saw comes streaming back into his mind telling him that this was who he really was, a cold blooded killer, a child soldier at heart, a _real_ SPARTAN, _the _lone SPARTAN and that he needed no one to succeed in his missions. He rampages through the corridors tearing through every covenant he lays his eyes on until his radio crackled and Percival's voice came through.

"SPARTAN, I'm sending you a waypoint to the nearest docking tube the covenant hijacked to board the _Royale_. I'll send Ahsoka the same waypoint and—"

"No . . . these men need her now. I can go it alone" he replies after killing the last soldier in sight.

"That is highly not recommended, while I don't question your combat prowess, a corvette filled to the brim with covenant soldiers not to mention the high probability of defensive emplacements inside. You need Ahsoka's help on this."

"If she doesn't stay here then these men are good as dead. I'll jump ship and retrieve the Jedi . . . I'm heading out now."

"Please be careful . . ."

On that final note Longarm reloads his rifle one more time before sprinting down through an adjacent corridor following the waypoint displayed on his HUD making his way to the _Ardent Prayer_. Now ever so eager to kill more of his hated enemies for their atrocities against his kind long ago and his rediscovered lust for blood.

**I would like to credit my friend, Laurent Chartier, for the creation of Sav 'Artamee in this chapter. As always leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	22. 052

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 22**

"**052"**

[Covenant corvette _Ardent Prayer_, detention deck]

Sav 'Artamee, and his first lieutenant Raku 'Kalomee, were just passing through the doorway into the detention bay where Major 'Lokutamee stands near a gravitational suspension containment unit with the somewhat injured Jedi Knight Kail Grodam being restrained in mid-air.

Sav carefully examines the Jedi, seeing the traditional robes threw him off since he normally saw a military uniform or combat armor, and asks in basic so that the human could understand him "Is this him 'Lokutamee?"

"Yes sire this is the one I have observed . . ." the major replied with a low gruff.

Raku comments "I have seen humans in many apparel, some of which are repulsive, but this one is quite new to me."

"I demand to know why I'm being held!" the Jedi states with authority,

A light chuckle comes from the Sangheili ranger "You humans are all the same, weak and undisciplined, and yet you '_demand_' believing that you hold some authority over the Covenant? You are sadly mistaken."

He then deactivates the containment unit, causing Kail to fall on to the ground unexpectedly, and seized the Jedi firmly grasping around his neck to the point where he struggled to breathe as the Sangheili leans his head towards the human's "You will tell us the location of every world your kind has fowled with your very presence. If you are not as forthcoming as we expect then I _will_ carve out your flesh making you scream your secrets to the stars. And once I am done I will throw you into the nearest airlock and send you into the vacuum of space. Do I make myself understandable?"

Grodam made no response but stare the elite straight in the eyes to which 'Artamee simply turns the containment unit back on and toss the human back into it thus restraining him in mid-air once more and state "You have one cycle to consider your options. Choose wisely for your own sake."

The Jedi watched the three Sangheili turn and march out of the detention bay to deal with the escalating situation at hand, he simply hung there looking down at the floor beneath him thinking of a way to break free but another voice, more human-like than the aliens and with a gentle but firm British accent, spoke out reassuring "Don't worry about those hinge-heads, they got a lot of bark but no bite . . ."

Kail looks around seeing nothing but darkness around him and he asks "Who's there?"

The voice replied "Name's not important; all you need to know is that I've been here nearly five years, and the food is terrible when they force feed ya."

[Republic Cruiser _Royale_, Deck 11 Medical Bay-A2]

Ahsoka Tano, along with the twenty three troopers she rallied together, fought her way through the war torn corridors littered with bodies, both clones and various Covenant members, as blaster bolts and plasma fly back and forth. She quickly engages a Jackal standing before her, armed with its red-tinted plasma shield and the compact but deadly Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol, swinging the blade of her left handed saber clashing against the barrier and sending out sparks of electricity. She withdraws her two lightsabers, realizing it'll be a challenge to break through that shield without getting shot, and drops to the floor throwing her left foot in a quick leg sweep catching the six foot tall Kig-yar behind by its right foot causing it to tumble over while she gets her footing and launch herself over the soldier, activate her two lightsabers, and bring them both down onto the jackal who couldn't bring its shield up to bare in time to block it.

She stands back up seeing the next hostile, a sangheili in blue armor with failing shields thirteen meters away firing its blue bulbous Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle at a rapid rate, then turns to the troopers behind her and calls out "Keep pushing!"

"You heard her men! PUSH FORWARD!" an outcry echoed from the leading trooper.

Tano reacquires her focus on the approaching Sangheili soldier and charges towards the aggressor with both lightsabers drawn. The elite changes his aim and begins firing off bolts of plasma on full automatically but unfortunately, due to the long period of time he has been firing his weapon, the rifle overheated causing the flaps on either side to open up and release the excess heat from the weapon. She manages to use the time of the weapon's cooldown and swung her left saber forward slicing the eight foot Sangheili's waist cutting clean through.

The elite fell in halves and the remaining covenant soldiers standing several feet away, mostly Unggoy and few Jackals, turned tail and retreated in fear while her troopers pursued them firing their blasters along the way.

Commander Palon, a clone regimental commander armed with the deadly six-barreled Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon, adorned in phase-ll armor sporting a ACU camouflage pattern over his armor, a dark grey leather kama hanging from his waist belt, and a set of electrobinoculars mounted onto his helmet's forehead, steps up next to Ahsoka reporting "Ma'am, I'm receiving reports that the enemy is pulling back."

"Wait they're pulling back?" she asked seemingly confused by why an aggressive force such as the Covenant would be retreating, especially with the Republic forces on the verge of defeat.

The comlink on her wrist began to chime prompting her to order "That's good to hear Commander, see about driving them off the ship."

"You're not coming with us ma'am?" Palon asks concerned about losing the advantage of having a Jedi on their side.

"I'll be right with you . . ." she says reassuringly.

The commander nodded to that and began pressing forward with the men under his command, this allowed the young Togruta to press the blinking switch on her wrist and ask "What is it Percy?"

"Ahsoka, Longarm isn't responding to my hails and is onboard the Covenant corvette trying to free the Jedi but he believes he can do it on his own and sadly I disagree. I need you to jump ship and assist him ASAP."

"No problem Percy, I'm on—"

"Oh and there's something else. When Longarm boarded the corvette I was able to get a better reading on the possible IFF signature that was already aboard, it's one of ours."

Tano's expression from a determined gentle expression to a hard frown "One of ours? You mean there's another SPARTAN on board?"

"Either a SPARTAN or an ODST, hell maybe even a marine, all I can tell is that it is UNSC. I've already have schematics of the vessel and I can lead you both down to the detention bay where the Jedi and UNSC asset is being held."

"Don't worry Percy, we'll get them both out."

"Then good luck, because the Covenant can get really temperamental when someone boards their own ship."

"Sheesh thanks for the inspirational talk."

The AI lets out a small chuckle "My pleasure."

Switching her comlink off that channel she turns over to the channel with Longarm and states "Longarm what's your status?"

There was no response, not even a crackle, so she tries again "Longarm do you read?" resulting in further silence.

With Longarm aboard the Covenant corvette and unresponsive, she makes it her priority to make her way to the starboard outer hull where she can board the corvette via a docking tube or acquire a EVA suit and jump from ship to ship through the vacuum of space.

[Covenant Corvette _Ardent Prayer_, communications center]

The sound of a shotgun blast echoes through the room as the SPARTAN-ll engages the covenant defenders in close quarters with his M45 Tactical Shotgun and sheer unmatched ferocity. The soldier was found in the center elevated platform kicking a wounded Sangheili ranger off the ledge when a skirmisher charges in and leaps on to the SPARTAN's back clawing and scratching away at his armor and body suit. He tries to shake the attacker off but to not avail, he drops his shotgun and reaches back grabbing he skirmisher by its head and upper jaw where he pulls bringing the attacker over his head in front of him, and pulls his seven inch combat blade driving it through the side of its neck and withdraws letting the skirmisher to fall off the as it bled out.

He recovers his weapon and leaps off the platform down onto the ground level below putting another shell into a frightened Unggoy, blowing off its right arm in a spray of lead buckshot and bright blue luminescent blood, killing it instantly. He started making his way towards the center hatch when it opens letting three more elites, two majors and a ultra, to charge in armed with plasma rifles and an energy sword ready to kill the demon.

One of the majors was the first to notice the incoming human and roars out "BAKUYA_" _(_Intruder!_) just before the SPARTAN rams his right shoulder into the major's chest knocking it backwards and receive a shotgun shell a mere second later.

With Longarm in close proximity, the Elite ultra readies his blade and takes a swing aim for the SPARTAN's mid-section hoping to cut him in half but the human quickly ducks performing a quick power slide below the blade and just stopping short a foot from the other major who was about to shoot. He quickly takes aim upwards towards the major's exposed chin and fires off another shell sending out buckshot that practically took the major's head off in the next instance.

The ultra comes back around the next second thrusting its dual-edged sword downwards but Longarm anticipated this and rolls out of the way to his right where he was essentially right next to the ultra and comes back up slamming the butt of his shotgun into the creature's gut area followed up with a blow to the head which angered the alien even further prompting it to take another swing nearly cutting the edge of the SPARTAN's throat when he backed away in time.

Longarm ditches the shotgun throwing it down to the floor and catch the elite's arm with his left hand when the sword came back and proceeded to break the Sangheili's arm with a devastating blow from his right fist to the elbow joint making a bone crushing sound mixed in with the elite's roar in pain and anger. The SPARTAN then forcibly uplifts the Covenant's shoulder joint, dislocating its shoulder and forcing it to let go of its hilt, he quickly grabs the falling energy sword before it clattered against the ground. He lets go of the elite's shoulder and drives the two energized blades straight into the elite's abdomen piercing the body through and through scorching the insides as the alien chocked and gasped trying to keep standing but it wasn't long till the SPARTAN withdraws the sword and the eight foot Sangheili to fall over onto the floor dead.

He looks down at the sword in his hands, it had been years since he held one in his hands, and decides to store it for future use putting it inside one of his empty ammunition pouches before picking up his shotgun again and head through the hatch leading into a corridor that would lead to the ship's main hangar. As he sprints through the corridor with no opposition he began to think about how the Covenant managed to reach this galaxy in force, he did consider the fact that Covenant made vessels had always been much faster than human and were much more precise but even then it probably would've taken them years to travel through slipstream space, countless possibilities raced through his mind like race cars on a sports track but none seemed to show any logical sense.

His train of thought quickly stopped when the door just a meter ahead of him opened up revealing an unsuspecting Mgalekgolo with its back turned towards him. He quickly picks up the pace building up what speed he could in the next few seconds, turning himself into a human freight train, and throws himself hard into the back of the twelve foot giant. The hunter was caught by utter surprise as the one ton wrecking ball slams into its back with enough force to carry it down the sloped ramp all the way to the hangar floor with the SPARTAN-ll standing over it with shotgun in hand. The hulking behemoth attempts to get up, so it could club the human with its overweight metal shield latched on its left arm, but quickly receives a buckshot shell to the back of the head destroying it outright.

Longarm backs away and finally took his first look of the large hangar to find it was brimming with Covenant activity, a couple hundred soldiers of different species all looking at him with fear, anger, and a modicum of respect. His feet began to tremble causing him to look down and see the assumingly dead hunter moving under him trying to stand back up to exact its revenge, he simply steps away and allows the headless giant to swing its left arm wildly towards him as he jumps away and fire off his last shotgun shell into the giant's belly killing many individual Lekgolo worms but the giant was just as pissed as it ever was. He throws his weapon away for the last time taking hold of the electrostaff on his left shoulder pad, extending the weapon and lighting up the two prods on the tips in an intense purple surge of electricity, and rolls out of the way when the giant threw its shield once more and make a quick jab at the hunter's exposed side shooting electricity through the walking colony of worms killing off those that couldn't take the sudden jolt of shock that coursed through them.

He watched as several worms fell out of the weakening hunter, but still maintains enough strength to make one last swing coming around, and ducks below the incoming arm and impales the giant with the tip of his staff letting the constant electricity course through every worm inside resulting in the entire colony to cry out while convulsing erratically trying to stay together but the high voltage the staff gave out proved too much and the majority of the worms died out, collapsing upon themselves, while those that were still able fled the scene leaving the remains nothing but hollow armor and a pile of dead worms.

With worms crawling all around the floor and his feet, Longarm looks out to the massing army of covenant now surrounding him with weapons charged and ready for use, with the staff in his right hand he draws his combat knife in a reverse-grip position and asks "Alright . . . who wants to pray to god first?"

[Republic Cruiser _Royale_, aft starboard wing, airlock]

Ahsoka Tano, Commander Palon, and a squad of six troopers just finished off the last of the Covenant that were defending one of the boarding tubes leading to the _Ardent Prayer_. One by one the group entered through the tube with young Tano taking the lead as they crossed about forty feet of tubing surrounded by the nothingness of space with only a mere few inches of covenant-made materials keeping them from going into oblivion.

One trooper asks as they ventured through the tube "You think they'll be waiting for us at the end?"

"Only one way to find out, either way I don't care much as long as I get a little payback" another says grudgingly.

Nothing came afterwards as they carried on until they reached the other end where a circular hatch with blue lights forming a sort of triad, but once Ahsoka had gotten close enough she could've touched it, the lights quickly change to a light violet following up with a small chime and the hatch retracted into the walls allowing them passage into a small hallway along the aft of the nine hundred and fifty six meter corvette.

Once the last trooper passes through the hatch and steps onto the floor he takes a good look around seeing nothing but purple lights and smooth surfaces compared to the _Royale's_ standard issue dull grey and square-like interior, he comments "Well . . . I guess nobody's home."

"Don't count on it" Tano states as she begins to walk towards the first door leading further into the corvette.

The troopers formed up behind her getting ready to tackle whatever challenge laid beyond the door ahead of them, preparing their blasters and a couple of thermal detonators they've managed to acquire back aboard the _Royale_. Ahsoka steps into the hatch's short range sensor causing the door to open up and allowed her and the troopers to step into a large circular room with an elevated central platform lined with consoles and a large set of energy shielding above them forming a part of the ceiling keeping the air in. But what really caught their attention was the large mass of dead bodies splayed out across the floors and the large quantities of blue and purple blood that oozed all across, as they began to look around they found that each body had some sort of fatal wound ranging from a simple gunshot to the more brutal dismemberment and impalement.

"What the hell happened here?" Palon asks fearing that there could be something much worse than the aliens that killed off more than half of the _Royale's_ crew.

Tano looked around carefully stepping around to make sure she didn't step on a riddled bloody corpse or a pool of blood until she accidently kicked something and looked down, finding a spent shotgun casing featuring a plump animal she was familiar with but she knew that this cartridge had to come from Longarm's shotgun indicating that he was here.

A trooper comments after giving a dead Sangheili a small nudge with his foot "These bodies still look fresh, I'd say about ten minutes ago at least."

"Then he's not too far ahead of us" Tano claims waving the troopers to follow as she makes her way to the hatch on the far end with three dead, one seemingly decapitated, lying at the foot of it.

The hatch door opens allowing the team passage into a long dark corridor with no visible intersections, once the hatch closed behind them they were engulfed in moderate darkness and silence but as they cautiously progressed through the corridor they began to hear distant plasma fire, outcries of death and pain, and the occasional rumble of a minor explosion occurring.

The team picked up the pace quickly approaching the hatch as the fighting grew louder and closer, the door ahead of them opens up and they were almost immediately greeted by a pair of Sangheili minors dual-wielding plasma rifles who then began firing away at the former Jedi and troopers who gladly returned the favor with their own weapons. Tano swiftly brought her sabers to bear deflecting as many bolts of ionized plasma as possible but it was near impossible to block them all when she hears a cry come from a trooper behind her when a bolt struck his armored chest. The elites fared no better as their shields began to wither under intense fire, especially from Palon who was utilizing his rotary cannon spewing out bolts of energy at a high rate of fire, and it wasn't long before their shields collapsed and their bodies became riddled with blaster marks.

The two warriors fell, at the cost of three clones, permitting what remained of the team to continue through the hatch where they entered a large hangar bay with shield doors on both starboard and port sides, an array of ramps and doorways on both aft and bow ends, them being in the middle of the aft section with a center ramp going down to the hangar floor and two going off on the sides heading up to another set of doors, and countless covenant soldiers converging on a lone seven foot soldier in black armor who was running rampant around the hangar wreaking havoc among the enemy ranks prompting the lowly grunts and occasional jackals to flee for their lives while the strong elites stood their ground with the loyal skirmishers to back them up in the defense.

They watched as Longarm, wielding a bright blue fizzing ball in his left hand and a covenant plasma rifle firing away in his right, engage pockets of covenant before he hurled the blue glowing ball through the air and detonating within a squad of soldiers who were engulfed in the bright florescent expansion of plasma and radiation. He then engages another squad shortly afterwards with similar results.

"LONGARM!" Tano calls out hoping the SPARTAN heard her over the ensuing chaos.

Upon hearing those words he looks up towards her and quickly points to a hatch, posted on an elevated platform on the far side of the bay near the starboard bow, before receiving a green bolt of plasma striking across his chest with his shields flaring and resumes fighting the covenant on their own turf.

"C'mon! We're heading to the far side!" she orders to the three troopers.

One trooper however complains "We're going through that!?"

Palon orders "C'mon you whiners, you said you wanted payback."

The troopers made no more quarrel over the subject and followed Tano into the chaotic fray firing off bolts at whatever target of opportunity presented itself, however one trooper was struck in the head when a razor sharp needle pierced through the helmet killing the clone instantly before he could've hit the ground. Nonetheless the remaining three continued onwards knowing that if they hesitated for a second they would be killed on the spot, they reached the other side when Tano began sprinting up the ramp towards the elevated platform where two kig-yar snipers wielding long rifles with pink needles protruding from the sides continued to fire away at the SPARTAN that never seemed to hold still. She quickly closes in activating her two sabers and makes a simple twirl decapitating the two soldiers before making her way to the door with the other two when it opens up allowing them inside and closed back up.

The trooper next to Palon was nearly exhausted as he leans against the side of the wall stating "I . . . I'm not going . . . back in there . . ."

Palon also exhibited heavy breathing, especially since he was carrying a sixteen kilogram chaingun around, but he decided to show his more humorous side "Ah who knows . . . maybe that big fella' . . . will be done with those freaks when we come back . . . if not then we'll send you in."

"Not . . . funny" the trooper remarked before getting his breath back.

"C'mon guys, we should be almost there" Tano states with no signs of exhaustion pointing down the long empty corridor ahead of them.

As she begins heading down the corridor Palon shrugs his shoulders and follows her in while the trooper took another second and proceeded to bring up the rear commenting under his breath "This just gets better and better . . ."

The trio ventured further into the alien warship waiting to encounter a form of security troops but none were to be seen or heard, most likely dealing with the SPARTAN back in the hangar bay. They continue onwards seeing or hearing nothing until, so Ahsoka decides to get in touch with the force in order to find Kail Grodam quicker than searching through every room that could have unwanted residents inside. She closes her eyes and began to concentrate focusing on the midi-chlorians that were seemingly absent despite the fact that she was inside a corvette full of aliens that were all desperate to kill a lone SPARTAN. It didn't take her long the sense the knight's presence and tell that he wasn't too far up ahead of them beyond a hatch twenty meters away, she open her eyes back up and began sprinting towards that particular hatch with the troopers close behind her.

They came up to a hatch, this time with red lighting rather than the standard blue, and tried to get in but it refused to open for anyone, she pounds on the hatch with the bottom of her fist with no results prompting Palon to suggest "We could blow it open with a thermal detonator."

"Let's try something a little more subtle" Tano replies as she activates one of her sabers and began cutting through the hatch door.

Inch by inch she burns through the door making a circle large enough for her and the troopers to pass through until she finally completes the process and pushes through the cut section making her way into a dark room with no visible lights, save for a little lights twinkling from the round ceilings. One by one the group entered the room with weapons at the ready waiting for an ambush at any moment but there was nothing but silence and darkness.

"Ah I can't see a thing" the trooper grumbles under his breath.

Then an audible moan echoed out of one of the corners of the room to which everyone looked over in the direction it came from and followed it, "Get away . . ." the voice groaned.

"Kail Grodam is that you?" Tano whispers trying not to reveal their position to any potential hostiles.

"Get away . . ." it repeated, much louder this time with some authority.

It was then when they began to peer through the darkness ahead of them seeing a dull light shine down on a beaten man in traditional Jedi clothing, "Commander!" Palon exclaims.

Kail was in a severe state of health as blood dripped from his battered wounds but instead of feeling the warm relief of rescue he hisses with coldness in his voice "You fools! You fell for their trap!"

"Trap!?" Ahsoka gasps before a sound of several energy swords dashed the silence away.

She and the two troopers then turned as the lighting grew brighter via remote control at an unknown source and saw three Sangheili in gold, white, and red armor each wielding a dual edge sword in their hand as they slowly approached her and the troopers in a calm manner.

Then they stopped merely five meters away and the one in gold spoke "It takes the skills of a demon to make it this far . . . I am impressed."

Tano had a distasteful look on her as she replies with some confidence "Your friends weren't all that tough if they managed to let a girl and a handful of troopers to get on board."

"Agreed and they have paid their lives for their incompetence. But I can assure you that we are unlike them."

Activating her two lightsabers she brings her blades up to bare and demands "Then prove it . . ."

The Sangheili stares into the Togruta's eyes and obliges "As you wish . . ."

He makes simple hand gestures to his two brethren, pointing them out to their targets being the two clones, and proceeded to step forward entering a combat stance with on foot placed in front of the other and his sword being held at head height with both blades pointed directly at his challenger. She in turns took the same precaution putting her blades up in her usual reversal gripped position just moments before the elite lunged with great speed. With only a few seconds before the sword would impale her, Ahsoka skips to the left dodging the blades and swings up with her right saber nearly decapitating the ranger had it not ducked and roll before coming back up and swing downwards where she raised her left saber clashing with the Sangheili's weapon shooting out jolts of electricity forcing them into a sword lock.

The other trooper, Grimer, found himself facing off with the hinge-head in red armor, Tau 'Lokutamee, in a brief stare down with his DC-15A blaster rifle though after realizing his chances of killing the elite with his rifle before it got close enough to use its blade was very slim to none. So in order to even the odds he tosses his rifle aside and raised up his fists preparing himself for a melee brawl, and perhaps disarm the Sangheili if possible. The major saw this as a challenge of honor and saw no more use for his own sword, deactivating it and latching it to his waist belt, and raised his own four-fingered fists in a similar manner. Grimer makes the first move dashing forward and make a quick upper cut with his right fist, failing miserably as 'Lokutamee effortlessly grasped his arm, and followed up with a fast high kick with his right foot, slamming against the major's stomach and essentially pushed the eight foot alien away. Tau returned the favor by cupping his hands together and immediately rammed them into the trooper's chest like a wrecking ball, knocking him flat out on the ground where he then takes hold of his entire helmet picking him back up, and hurled the clone several feet away making him crash down on the floor.

'Lokutamee chuckles as he approaches the downed trooper "Your heart may be in the right place human, but you still lack discipline and strategy."

The trooper slowly got up to his hands and knees making a snarky remark "Yeah that's what they told me at basics. But here I am kicking your sorry butt around."

The major gave another chuckle before grabbing Grimer by the back of his neck and raise him up to eye level and ask "And what makes you so sure that you are winning?"

"This!" followed up with a rather powerful blow from the clone's right fist impacting Tau's left mandibles making a cringing bone snapping sound prompting the Sangheili to let go and roar in the sudden pain.

Grimer immediately puts some distance between himself and the major who then looks up at the ill-prepared clone and growl "Now you have made things interesting."

Commander Palon on the other end faced off with the first lieutenant, Raku 'Kalomee, firing away with his Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon letting out an unrelenting barrage of laser fire as the Sangheili ducks and sprints behind cover, being other containment units currently vacant, struggling to avoid even a single shot.

Palon roars out "C'mon you split-jaw freak! I still got plenty more where that came from!"

He saw nothing move for the next several seconds until he started to hear heavy footsteps rushing towards him and quickly spots a distorted figure barreling towards his way. He quickly opens up firing a volley of fire downrange striking the figure multiple times until the white armored giant revealed itself as it activates its energy sword and makes a fast right thrust. Palon quickly threw up his blaster cannon letting the two blades to puncture through effectively stopping the sword just short of cutting into his armor and backs away as 'Kalomee grabs the inoperable chaingun and throw it aside. He quickly draws his DC-17 Pistol and continue firing away striking the elite multiple times across his chest eventually cracking the shield and landing more shots onto the armor but the Sangheili was able to get close enough to plunge his blade deep into Palon's abdomen causing him to scream out in pain as he is being lifted up above the floor now looking down into Raku's eyes full of anger and hate.

"You should know that I never take prisoners. So I will make your death slow and painful" 'Kalomee states with a sinister tone in his voice.

Palon grimaced trying to fight the pain burning in his body and utters "Good . . . I don't take prisoners either . . ." before shoving the barrel of his pistol up between the elite's mandibles into its exposed mouth and pulled the trigger.

Ahsoka turned when she heard the shot seeing Raku 'Kalomee and Commander Palon fall to the floor both dead or on the verge of it but she couldn't get to them when Sav 'Artamee takes a wide swing in an attempt to cut her in half but she quickly raises her right handed saber and blocked the incoming blow. The golden ranger immediately changes strategy deactivating his energy sword in exchange for two twelve inch energy daggers built into his wrist gauntlets and makes a fast right hook with his fist hoping to cut deep into the former Jedi who then ducks out of the way in time to marginally avoid the sharp blade. She comes back up and take a couple of slices and swipes towards the Sangheili commander as he ducks and rolls with such fluid momentum until he retaliates a left 'spring-loaded' round house kick slamming into her stomach and sending her back a couple of feet with one hand over her bruised stomach and the other still holding a saber up in defense.

Sav comes up into his normal stance and begins walking over to the togruta stating "You are a fool to side with these pathetic humans. Once I am done with you I will see to it that your world is found and burned into nothing but glass like every other world before and not even your demons can save you from it."

Ahsoka looks up at the approaching elite and remarks "Good thing I don't need saving!" and quickly puts the force to work using her energy to grab and hurl the Sangheili up through air towards the far side of the room.

'Artamee let out a frightful howl as he soared through the air and came crashing down against the floor close to the starboard wall, he soon gets back up afterwards and lets a low growl as he raises his left arm gauntlet, featuring a tactical pad, and pressed several keys resulting in the entire deck to lose gravitational control. Fortunately with the training he gained from becoming a ranger 'Artamee excelled in zero-g environments with his armor's equipment, including his back-mounted thruster-pack and launched himself into the air as he reaches back for an orange-tinted stout rifle with a bulbous front and angled back. The moment he brings it out loaded for bear he takes aim only with his right arm and fires a purple-hued blob of superheated plasma sending it straight towards the Jedi who leaps out of the way, gaining great height with the help of no gravity, as the bolt slams into the ground and detonates creating a small concussive explosion.

She twists herself around before she sets her feet on the ceiling and quickly saw three more bolts incoming forcing her to skip out of the way of the first two and use the force to grasp the third and send it flying back at 'Artamee who quickly maneuvers out of the way letting the bolt pass by detonating against a containment cell destroying its ability to use its anti-gravity restraints.

Sav comes back around for another run and gets in close before firing the last two bolts, the first bolts impacts the ceiling a couple feet from Tano but the second was just close enough that she couldn't have gotten away in time when it detonated next her feet throwing her into the middle of the room and leaving her floating exposed to 'Artamee's attacks. Sav makes a quick roundabout reloading his rifle as Tano holsters her sabers in exchange for the M6C PDWS Magnum and started to fire off rounds, most rounds were on target causing the Sangheili's shields to flicker blue before he started to return fire.

Back on the floor, Grimer was utilizing his Phase-ll Armor's magnetized boots to stay firm to the ground to combat Major 'Lokutamee who seemed to have some difficulties staying grounded while dealing with the stubborn clone. The trooper was sprinting fast closing in one the unbalanced major like a torpedo until he rams his right shoulder into the Sangheili's chest causing him to start floating away from the floor but not before seizing Grimer's arm and pull himself in, activating his wrist-mounted energy dagger, driving his dagger straight into the trooper's chest.

Grimer choked and gasped for air when the single tipped blade pierced his right lung but the pain soon went away and so did his life, 'Lokutamee sets himself on the ground and hurled the dead trooper away before he looks up to see 'Artamee and Tano still fighting it out in the air. He realizes that Sav has a massive advantage over the togruta but he also feared the female's unnatural cunning as she uses the force in her favor to deflect the incoming projectiles launched from 'Artamee's concussion rifle and return fire with a measly handgun but to significant effect. He quickly gets into action using his tactical pad to stabilize the gravity in the room, soon the gravity generators kicked back online resulting in Ahsoka to fall to the ground hard and Sav to unexpectedly drop in altitude but he quickly recovers thanks to his thruster-pack and gently lowers himself to the floor.

The lights then immediately went down enveloping the entire room in darkness, Sav quickly asks "What is happening?"

"A minor power failure sire, the gravity generators require immense power to come back online. The lighting should—"

Sav hears a quick yelp for help followed up by a cringing neck breaking sound and a loud metallic thud of a body hitting the ground to finish things up. Then a plasma weapon is heard primed and ready to fire and a small pattern of blue lights were raised right against the ranger's face.

Ahsoka laid on the ground with an aching pain in her back after the fall but she was also concerned as to what was happening in the darkness, her query was soon answered when the lighting came back on revealing a dead Major 'Lokutamee with his neck twisted, and Sav 'Artamee being held at gunpoint by a towering eight foot giant in unbelievably bulky armor featuring olive drab greaves, a heavily armored gold chest plate with a silver cylinder latched up front, heavy red shoulder pads with heavily armored forearms, and an olive drab helmet featuring a piece of armor latched onto the forehead and a wide open reddish-bronze visor. The sheer size of this being was unbelievable even for her and she could tell that Sav was more angered than he was afraid.

The being spoke in a firm British accent with an aggressive tone "I don't appreciate split mouth freaks mistreating the other end of the gender spectrum."

"Even if you kill me today demon, there will be more to take my place . . . it is useless to even attempt such a feat" 'Artamee states.

"True but at least no one will have to deal with your sorry carcass."

The two giants continued staring into each other's visor until 'Artamee instantly makes the first move launching a left hook slamming against the other's helmet and quickly sends his right hand for the plasma rifle, seizing it and disarming the giant. The other being almost immediately comes back with a response throwing a strong and devastating low blow to Sav's stomach causing the Sangheili to keel over holding onto the impacted area while the rifle clattered onto the floor. The human tries for another blow aimed for the Sangheili's head but 'Artamee was quick to act utilizing his thruster-pack to launch himself into the air and back some ways putting distance between him and the demon. Sav gives one last glance at his former prisoner then activates his thruster-pack one last time and flees towards the exit flying through the hatch as it opens and leaving the scene.

After the situation calmed down, Ahsoka began to stand back up with minor pain in her back and legs but she still couldn't believe that she was seeing another being wearing armor much resembling Longarm's MJOLNIR Mk. V just with a different color scheme and heavier armor attachments compared to Longarm's simple ammunition pouches. This was another SPARTAN.

"Thanks . . ." Tano said appreciatively as the giant simply stared at the exit with no visible response.

That was until he looked back at her over his shoulder and said nothing as he turned his head back forward. He started to walk forward picking up the plasma rifle that was dropped when he punched the elite in the gut and resumed on his way.

"Hey wait!" Ahsoka said holstering her magnum into its respectful holster before she started to follow.

The giant made no response but she quickly realizes his body tensed as she drew closer, then something clicked in her mind prompting her to reach into one of her belt pockets and pull out the photo of Longarm and his closest friend Jorge.

She quickly glances at the photo then up at the giant and said "You're Jorge!"

The SPARTAN stopped and quickly turns around staring down at her through his visor, he then growls "How the hell do you know my name?"

He closes in on her prompting her to take a couple steps back before she shows him the photo and caused him to stop and examine it in silence, only a moment passed before he looks to her and resumes his approach stating "There's only two people I know that has that photo, and you're not one of them."

She began to try and reason with the SPARTAN "W-wait I can explai—" but she didn't get to finish her explanation when he seized her neck and held her up above the floor.

"What did you do!?" he demands as his grip tightens around her throat.

The two then hear the doors open again behind them and a pair of heavy metallic feet came in followed up with "Jorge!?"

The SPARTAN quickly turns taking his captive into a headlock before facing another SPARTAN in black armor dual wielding SMGs in his hands, he quickly asks in shock "James!?"

Ahsoka couldn't get a word out but she reaches out with her right hand while her left held onto Jorge's hulking arms wrapped around her neck like a snake.

Longarm holsters his two submachine guns and raised his two hands up as a sign of nonaggression stating with a calm and collected tone "Jorge . . . let her go . . ."

"You can't be . . . you're supposed to be dead after that battle. . ." Jorge states with utter disbelief.

"I survived, the _Vanguard_ got caught in an energy surge that caused our slipspace drive to jump the ship out."

"How do I know that? How do I know that's the real you!?"

Longarm stops briefly for a moment thinking of a way to validate his survival, he then started to speak in Hungarian "Jorge,-a ' igazán nekem, James" (_Jorge, it's really me, James_)

"Rendben van bizonyítani, hogy" (_Alright prove it_)

The black SPARTAN thought for a quick moment the asked "Emlékszel vissza a betakarítás a 2527? Ez volt a negyedik július. Te és én tartották a Szövetség, a fújt ki, míg a rózsa és a kék csapat elmentem robbantani a metán finomítói épület?" (_Do you remember back on Harvest in 2527? It was the fourth of July. You and I were holding off the Covenant in a blown out building while Rose and Blue Team went to blow that methane refinery?_)

Jorge seemed to have loosened up a tad bit "igen, mi volt futás alacsony-ra lőszer indultunk, hogy esik vissza vár pickup" (_Yeah, we were running low on ammunition so we started to fall back waiting for pickup._)

Longarm then began his slow approach "Ez így. És amikor mi volt körülbelül-hoz kap túllépése, kék csapat swoops ben felvette minket közvetlenül az adott hellhole. Ez volt John és Fred fogás a segged, a közlekedés" (_That's right. And when we were about to get overrun, Blue Team swoops in and picked us right up out of that hellhole. It took John and Fred to haul your ass into the transport._)

Jorge let out a small chuckle "Ez volt, és mikor Rose robbant a finomító..." (_It did, and when Rose detonated the refinery . . ._)

"Ez volt a negyedik július nagyfiú..." (_That was our Fourth of July big guy . . ._)

He slowly looks down at the struggling togruta in his arms asking "Aki az ő majd?" (_Who's she then?_)

"Ez Ahsoka Tano... barátja" (_That's Ahsoka Tano . . . She's a friend_)

Ahsoka continued to struggle but with some strength left as the big man started to hesitate on whether or not to release her, he then heard his friend say "rendben van..." (_It's ok . . ._)

Jorge soon releases her letting her fall to the ground hand over throat as she coughs gasping for air, Longarm moves in and helps her back onto her feet when she said with sarcasm "I'm glad you two had a heart to heart, but did it really have to involve me getting choked?"

"Sorry 'bout that miss . . . you really had me worried" Jorge apologizes.

Longarm glances between the two seeing a motionless Kail Grodam and states "C'mon, let's get him back to the ship."

The other two agreed and they made their way to the containment unit where Jorge deactivates the unit by punching a hole through the unit's power supply with his fist. This resulted in the Jedi to fall from his spot with Longarm standing ready to catch him, but once he fell into the SPARTAN's arms Ahsoka checks for pulse only to find none.

"No . . ." she said in sorrow.

Longarm took a brief moment for Ahsoka to grieve and said "Nothing we could do for him now, we have to get off ship now."

"Couldn't agree more SPARTAN" Jorge replies.

Longarm hefts the Kail's body over his shoulder before he and the trio began to run for the exit in order to make their way to one of the docking tube and escape the _Ardent Prayer_ altogether. Ahsoka takes the lead readying her two lightsabers for action with Longarm behind her and Jorge bringing up the rear, the group continued on their way through the long corridor till they made it back into the hangar bay where the floor was littered with bloodied corpses and wrecked equipment.

"James you didn't bother to leave me some?" Jorge asks comically as they ran pass the bodies.

"I'll be sure to remember that Jorge" he replies.

The group passed the ground floor making their way up the ramp towards the central hatch on the aft end of the corvette when Percival comes in through Longarm's radio reporting "SPARTAN, I've detected an energy spike within the Corvette's engine core, they're preparing to make a jump."

"We're almost out Percival! Once we're off ship I want you to give this thing everything you got!"

"Understood, rerouting power to weapons and charging up MACs."

The group soon passed through the hall heading into the communications enter, also littered with dead bodies, where Ahsoka waves to the two SPARTANs "C'mon we're almost there!"

"C'mon Jorge! Pick up the pace!" Longarm adds.

"I've been restrained to a gravity field for five damn years! My legs are a little stiff!" Jorge roared as he continues to run.

They reached the other end of the communications center entering the last hallway where the docking tube was still attached to the cruiser _Royale_, one by one the group squeezed into the narrow tube and made their way back across with haste just as an alarm sounds off indicating the tube will detach momentarily.

Longarm cries out "Move!"

Eventually Ahsoka passes through coming down on the familiar flooring of the Venator-class Star Destroyer followed up with Longarm and shortly after Jorge where she then presses the emergency lock switch sitting next to the tube causing the hatch to immediately close before the tube detaches and the vacuum of space sucks them out.

"We're off, let 'em have it!" Longarm barks.

Shortly afterwards, the _Vanguard_ armed her array of Archer missiles and launched them in volleys sending them streaming in slamming against the shields followed up with a one-two punch from the destroyer's dual MAC cannons, both smashing into the shields causing them to flare up in a bright blue. But despite Percival's best efforts to crack the shields and destroy the corvette, the _Ardent Prayer _opens up a rift into slipspace and entered with full speed leaving no trace behind.

"The corvette has fled . . . I wasn't able to crack their shields in time before they jumped" the AI reports with guilt.

The SPARTAN-ll orders "Track them. I want that ship destroyed before it can cause any more damage."

"Consider it done."

Longarm signs off from the radio and looks down at Ahsoka who was kneeling next to the deceased Jedi feeling helpless and believing she could've done better, soon several troopers arrived, at first seemed surprised by the two hulking giants, before one states "We'll take Commander Grodam back to Coruscant . . . you can accompany us if you want."

Jorge and Longarm looks down at young Tano who stood back up stating "No, we'll be leaving soon. Give my regards to Master Yoda when you arrive."

"I'll see to it personally ma'am" the trooper replied as two clones walked over picking Kail up in their arms and carried him away with the others falling in line behind them.

Longarm sets his left hand on her right shoulder asking "Hey, you alright?"

"No . . . but it's something we all get used to."

The SPARTAN withdraws his hand stating "C'mon everyone, let's get back to the _Vanguard_. See where the hell that Corvette jumped to" he then turns to Jorge "It's good to have you with us Jorge."

"It's good to know you're still around James, maybe you can bring me up to speed on our current situation. Perhaps even get me some real food and none of that slop the Covenant been feeding me."

He chuckles "We'll see to that big man."

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	23. Coming up to speed

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 23**

"**Coming up to speed"**

[UNSC _Vanguard_]

With Percival tracking the course the Covenant corvette took when it entered slipspace and the Jedi cruiser _Royale_ having already jumped into hyperspace on its way back to Coruscant, the Gozanti cruiser docks with the destroyer's port docking station letting the trio back aboard into the familiar hexagonal corridors made out of titanium and plasteel.

Jorge-052 was the last to walk aboard the ship where he takes his helmet off, revealing his shaved greyish brown haircut, beard, very firm facial features, and piercing blue eyes much like Longarm's, and he takes a deep breath in and exhales stating "Never would've imagined I'd be missing that stale recycled oxygen."

He then takes a look around only seeing Longarm and Ahsoka around and asks "Where's the rest of the crew?"

Tano and Longarm stopped and turned to the confused SPARTAN, they gave each other a brief exchange of looks, before Longarm takes his helmet off and said with some difficulties "They're . . . they're dead."

"What? Come on now you're joking."

"Did you see any marines or ODSTs when we came aboard that corvette? Do you see any officers or crewmen right now? They all died about five years ago."

The big man now seemed all too confused "W-wait how did this happen?"

Percival chimed in through the ship's intercom system "They all perished when the vessel exited slipspace on a wild uncalculated jump and crash landed on a planet, some survived but our numbers started to thin out as we tried to survive and repair the ship. SPARTAN James here is the last one left . . . and I suppose when I think about it, this makes him the leading commander of the _Vanguard_."

Ahsoka finally asks "Putting that aside for a moment, how in the world did you end up on that ship for five years?"

Longarm comments "C'mon, you can explain it on our way to the war room; hopefully we can do a threat assessment on that ship so we know what we're up against."

The group began making their way towards the bow of the ship where they'll take a lift up to the command deck, on the way there Jorge began to explain the events that happened so long ago "I was stationed on Reach along with Noble Team when we first discovered a Covenant scouting party at the Visegrád Relay, Zealot class elites being led by a field marshal. Anyways we drove them out and continued to fight the Covenant on several fronts until our first major operation in Ütközet region a few weeks later where we were assigned to take down air defenses and one of their command spires. I and Noble Six were the only ones who made it to the spire where six deactivated the spire's shields and we were evacuated by falcon. Frigate Grafton was on approach and brought the spire down, only to be sliced in half by a Covenant Supercarrier in low atmosphere that was cloaked the entire time."

Longarm dreadfully asks "A supercarrier? My god . . ."

"What's a supercarrier?" Tano asks.

Percival voluntarily answered "A monster of a vessel and most likely the largest class the Covenant has to offer, measuring close to twenty nine kilometer long the CSO-Class supercarrier can carry tens of thousands of ground troops to battle and maintain its own complement of thousands of fighters, dropships, and even its own defense group of corvettes like the one we encountered. All hope would be crushed by the mere presence of such a dreadnought."

The mere thought of a supercarrier in this galaxy struck fear into Ahsoka's heart fearing that even the Republic Navy might not be able to stand up against this monster, anyways Jorge continues "Right . . . while the UNSC was on the retreat, one of our members, Kat, came up with a plan to deliver a makeshift slipspace bomb to the carrier and take it out of play. Her plan relied on Six and I to take a sabre up to orbit and see to it the bomb makes it to a corvette that we can send on a refueling run with the carrier."

"Solid plan" Longarm comments.

"It was, everything went according to plan until the bomb suffered some damage from a little disagreement between me and some unwelcomed guests. At that point the bomb had to be detonated manually and so I said my farewells to six and threw him out of the hangar, I made peace with myself and I detonated the bomb. I should be dead right now but . . . I don't know . . ."

Ahsoka states "I thought a slipspace explosion was supposed to send everything into oblivion, from what Percy and Longarm told me. Is there any way to explain that?"

"Well . . . Slipstream Space is still largely unknown to human science, even I don't fully understand its potential. Nonetheless there's no evidence that slipstream space is actually capable of destroying ships that are fitted with the proper shielding to protect against the effects of transition, despite the toll it may have on organics. Given that Covenant-made vessels are much more effective with slipspace travel it was a certainty that the corvette and the supercarrier have survived the 'explosion' and arrived here" the AI explains.

Jorge however remarks "The supercarrier was torn apart, the only thing that made it through was the mid-section."

"Good, better part of it than the whole package. The Republic would've never stood a chance against that" Longarm states thankful for the circumstances as they arrived to the lift and he presses the call button.

As the lift makes its way down to their level, Jorge states "It's safe to say Six and I completed our mission in taking out that carrier, so when do we head back to UNSC space?"

Tano and Longarm shared another exchange of looks before he asks her "Hey uh Ahsoka . . . mind giving us a moment? Go ahead and get some rest."

"Yeah . . . sure" she replies before heading off down the corridor as the two SPARTANs watched her leave.

Once she turned around a corner and left their sight, the lift finally arrived and the doors opened up letting them walk aboard so it could take them up. Longarm presses a button indicating the command deck and the lift began its ascent to the upper levels of the destroyer.

Jorge knew that this moment of silence after his previous question meant something was horribly wrong, so he had to ask "James . . . what's going on? Where are we?"

James tried to think of a way to tell his closest friend but nothing really came to mind "I-I don't know Jorge" he said rubbing the back of his head "But Percival is trying to calculate a way back to UNSC space . . ."

"James . . . where. The hell. Are we?" Jorge asks with a much more serious tone in his voice.

The SPARTAN sharpshooter sighed before putting his hands down and said it like it was "As far as I know, we're in another galaxy."

"No . . ." the big man remarks with disbelief "That can't be . . ."

"Believe it or not Jorge, we're far from home. We're in a whole new galaxy with completely different factions."

The lift finally comes to a stop at the command deck where the bulkhead hatches slid open allowing the two SPARTANs onto the bridge, a large circular room with an wide complex array of flashing monitors and displays, a line of small angular viewports coming from the sides until coming together in a much larger window pane in the center front of the room, and a large eight by fourteen foot rectangular holographic display table in the middle of the room.

"Percival, bring it on screen" Longarm asks as the two walked towards the table.

"Gladly."

The table came to life lighting up with a gentle blue before projecting a hologram of the galaxy they currently reside in based on information the AI gained from the galaxy-wide holonet.

Jorge looked down at the table seeing the spiraling galaxy and states with some hope "That's our galaxy . . ."

But James corrects him "No, this is _their_ galaxy" he points his finger towards a small blinking light located near the edge "We're here in the Fenion system, along the outer-rim territories."

"Alright, what about these factions you mentioned?"

By cue the galaxy lit up in several portions being distinguished by red and blue zones, Longarm continues "Mainly two big ones, the red zones belong to the Galactic Republic, a long standing government much like the UEG, they have their own laws, senate, and power. The blue zones are part of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, more commonly called Separatists, and they're more like the URF though they tend to use droid armies to hold systems in their grip rather than wild acts of terrorism."

"So I'm guessing those boys in white were part of the Republic then?" Jorge assumes.

"Right, those men are part of the Grand Clone Army of the Republic."

The big man didn't bother to comment on the idea of a clone army and jumps straight to the topic of Ahsoka "And the girl you're with, what's her story?"

"Ahsoka? Well as far as I know she's a former Jedi who got mixed up with me in a chain of events, of all that is um . . . pretty complicated to explain."

"I don't intend to even ask about it."

"Good . . . Anyways she's trustworthy and she can hold her own in combat. Got these 'lightsabers' that pretty much works like Sangheili energy swords."

"Now before we go any further, tell me what the hell is a Jedi?"

"Oh yeah um . . . I honestly don't really know other than they're aligned with the Republic and they have some sort of mystic power like telekinesis or something. They got their own code of order but the only one I know about is something about Jedi not forming any intimate relationships with anyone, something like that."

Jorge nodded quietly taking all this information and processing through his mind, the two SPARTANs became ominously quiet thereafter for several long minutes that almost seemed like hours with nothing but the occasional beeps and chimes of the monitors around them.

James then broke the silence and asked "The Covenant found Reach then . . . right?"

Jorge's eyes looked up and met with his friend's, he then simply said with a solemn tone "Yeah . . ."

"Then it's likely that Reach has fallen by now . . ." the dark SPARTAN gave a deep sigh "Leaving only Earth . . . and that was five years ago . . ."

Jorge knew that James was implicating that all of humanity is nothing but a memory now, with them being the last of their kind, but he maintains the last ray of hope stating "We don't know that . . ."

"And what if it's true? Then we're the only ones left. Now I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a little generous and I'll be more than happy to return the favor."

"I agree . . ."

"Good, Percival what're we up against?"

The hologram changed from a galaxy to a single covenant corvette as the AI began his diagnostics "A Covenant SDV-Class Heavy Corvette with a standard armament three plasma turrets on each side and a number of pulse laser emplacements, but what I found very unusual was that this ship was fitted with energy shielding. If I remember correctly, SDV classes don't carry one unlike every other class we've encountered over the decades."

Jorge was quick to start explanations "Sometime after I detonated the slipspace bomb, survivors from a squad and I were ducking and hiding throughout the ship while the Covenant began making repairs using some of the materials from the fragment of the supercarrier that came through, my guess was that since the corvette was the only ship available to them they decided to retrofit it with its own shield generators."

"Thus making our job a lot more difficult . . ." Longarm adds with some displeasure before he asks "What happened to the squad?"

"All KIA when we were spotted after two days of hiding. I don't even know why they kept me alive."

James stood there a nodded for a moment accepting this before he returns to the matter at hand "What about the supercarrier?"

"Only the mid-section came through including the main hangar and from what it sounded like from the crew, a lot of crewmembers on the carrier survived and were converting what's left into a station for their base of operations. No doubt most of the onboard weapons are still operational and it'll be a death sentence to go anywhere near it."

"We'll have to leave that to the Republic or Separatist fleets, we don't have the firepower to take that thing down."

"Not even nuclear ordnance?"

"We have two warheads left, we just used one three days ago and decimated an entire Separatist fleet, anyways if we launch our nuclear ordnance they'll just shoot 'em down. But for now all we can do is take down that corvette, a good one-two punch with the MACs ought to put it out of commission."

"Now the only thing we need to do is find it."

The AI finally chimes into the conversation after a moment of silence "And we're in luck, I traced the corvette's unique energy signature leaving the sector, if we leave now we can follow the signal all the way to its destination point."

Jorge remarks "Good chances are is that the corvette is making its way back to the supercarrier, we jump in like that and we might as well kiss our arses goodbye."

"And if we let that corvette go then we'll probably never see that ship again, meaning more lives will be lost, innocent lives will be lost."

The big man fell silent for the moment weighing their options, follow the ship and risk running into the active remains of a supercarrier, or risk the huge potential loss of innocent lives to the Covenant's indiscriminate onslaught. After some further thinking he looked up at his fellow friend and brother in arms and gave an approving nod.

James nods in response then gives the order "Percival get us underway immediately, follow that signal."

"Aye aye commander . . . plotting in new course, spinning up FTL drives."

The _Vanguard's_ four fusion drive engines roared to life guiding the Halberd-Class destroyer and the docked Gozanti-Class cruiser onto the correct course, Percival then spoke throughout the entire intercom system "All hands, prep for slipspace jump."

Soon after, a rift is torn open in the emptiness of space about a hundred meters in front of the destroyer allowing the ship to enter at full speed, once the _Vanguard_ entered, the portal then closed upon itself leaving no trace behind.

[Three days later, Slipstream Space]

On Deck 13, inside the _Vanguard's_ training bay, Longarm was taking swings at a hanging punching bag landing devastating blows to each side while Jorge was sitting on a bench, making the last modifications to his new M247H Heavy Machine Gun, and Ahsoka sat next to him watching Longarm continue to deal blows left and right.

She was silent for the past several hours, watching the two SPARTANs do their individual activities, until she looks over to Jorge, finally installing the heat cover over the gun's barrel, and asks "So what was Longarm like back then? Before all this happened to you."

Jorge's eyes came up from the gun and met hers "James? Well . . . he's pretty quiet around other SPARTANs except for me, always tended to be alone and really knows his way around a sniper rifle."

The two then looked out to see James continuing to land heavy blows with left and right hooks, uppercuts, and even head blows, Tano had never seen this kind of fighting style and asks "What kind of art is that?"

"Boxing . . ."

"Boxing?"

"Yeah, it's his personal favorite but he can get a bit creative when he has to. He calls it his 'recreational art'"

The two fell silent after that for several moments with only the sounds of fists impacting the fabric, Jorge then comments "That bag's getting a little worn out don't you think?"

Ahsoka looks over at the bag, seeing it being relentlessly bombarded by the SPARTAN's rapid fists, and decides to stand up and walk over to him.

Longarm finishes his routine with a quick upper right hook striking the top of the bag and quickly follows up with a hard right uppercut impacting the bag just below the mid-section before he sees Ahsoka now several meters away and ask with heavy breathing "Hey . . . you wanna take a swing at it?"

She looks at the punching bag, all beaten and worn out, and gladly declines "I think the bag's felt enough for today . . . c'mon I want to teach you something."

"You, want to teach _me_ something?" the SPARTAN asks with some doubt behind his voice and a little hint of sarcasm "Does it have something to do with the force?"

"Not really . . ." she replies before drawing out on of her sabers in a reversed grip position.

"Oh . . . a little swordsmanship then" he comments before grabbing the hilt on his waist and activate the energy sword he took from the Sangheili Ultra from the corvette.

"You ever done sword combat before?" she asks as she began to slowly pace around the SPARTAN.

"Done a lot of hand-to-hand if you hadn't noticed" he answers as he too begins to walk around her.

Jorge eventually placed his weapon aside and begun to watch the two walk around one another before they both charged at one another with swords clashing against each other displaying a brief shower of electricity before the two broke off placing several feet between them.

After a short second of nothing, Longarm leaps back in thrusting his sword forward but Ahsoka was quick to react ducking to her left and throw her saber up in time to block the next attack when the SPARTAN came back around. She then quickly uses the force and blasts the energy sword at of James's hands forcing him to grab his electrostaff and ready it for combat. Ahsoka comes in fast now wielding both of her lightsabers making rapid swings and jabs, high and low, forcing the SPARTAN-ll to try and keep up, blocking blows with the tips of his staff, until she ducks avoiding the first retaliatory strike from him, deactivates her sabers, and make a quick clean sweep of the leg catching the half ton super-soldier by his heels and knocked him over forcing him to let go of the staff. Ahsoka comes right back up bringing her fists to bare as the SPARTAN slowly got back up and saw her with her hands up, he kindly obliges by bringing up his own armored fists and throw the first punch.

His right fist shot out like a bullet but Tano already predicted this move and ducked her head off to her right evading the gloved projectile and giving herself the perfect opportunity to land a quick blow to his exposed bodysuit. She delivers a lightning fast one-two punch to his sides, both blows having negligible effect on the SPARTAN, before he could swing his arm back but she immediately ducks again before she leaps in the air perform a high kick with her left foot slamming against the side of his EOD helmet and knocking it clean off exposing his head.

She quickly puts distance between her and Longarm as he quickly recuperates from the rapid blows and say "Not bad . . . my mistake for taking it easy on you."

"It's your fault, not mine" she replies keeping her hands up bracing herself for an inevitable attack.

Longarm moves in throwing a fast left uppercut but she dodges it and immediately makes a response by launching a quick burst of force energy knocking him off balance before she charges in and throws her one hundred and nineteen pound body in a shoulder barge against his nine hundred and twenty eight pound body and MJOLNIR armor. The SPARTAN-ll, unable to manage the impact from her body against his already unbalanced state, started to fall backwards but not before seizing her right arm and pull her down with him. The seven foot giant fell onto his back with a loud thud against the hard floor and Ahsoka falling on top of him, the two laid there, her on top of him, for a moment as they began to think of their next moves into winning this fight but nothing came to their minds and the two began to chuckle which eventually turned into laughter.

Ahsoka climbs off and helps the SPARTAN back up when he states with a decent grin "Ya' know, you're a real handful."

She gives a warm smile as James began to gather his things, starting with his staff, onto his sword, and finally his helmet in which he puts back on himself, he and Tano then began to walk back over to Jorge who was cleaning his new modified weapon when he looked up to see the approaching two.

Tano then placed a hand over her stomach stating "I'm kinda getting hungry, I'll see you boys later."

The two SPARTANs quietly gave an approving nod and watched the young togruta walk out the bulkhead hatch, James had his arms crossed as he thinks to himself until Jorge stood up, with his new HMG's forward handling bar in his right hand, and asks "You went easy on her didn't you?"

"I wish I hadn't, would've been more fun that way. I'll admit, over the past two weeks since I met her, she's starting to grow on me."

"I don't need to tell you two to get a room don't I?" the big man asks with sarcasm in his voice.

James lets out a light chuckle "That won't be necessary Jorge. I'm sure Percival can get that job done if he has to."

Jorge gives a small laugh before making a comment "Yeah I suppose she has that certain charm . . ." he falls silent thinking for a moment until he states "She sorta reminds me of home in a way . . ."

"I know what you mean . . . I suppose we still have something to smile about."

"For what it's worth, I hope you're right."

The two SPARTANs went silent, looking down at the floors beneath them, thinking about the possible future ahead of them here in this new galaxy. Neither one said anything but eventually Jorge started to glance around the place taking in the silence and realizing that despite his efforts back on Reach and aboard the _Ardent Prayer_, he'll never be able to see the outcome of what happened afterwards, and neither will James.

Percival soon breaks the silence reporting "SPARTANs, not to interrupt your moment of silence, I've got S-Deck ready for armor enhancement procedures and maintenance routines."

Longarm nodded to the AI's statement "Good to hear Percival, we'll be down in a moment" he then gives a heavy pat against Jorge's right shoulder-mounted EVA shoulder pad prompting the big man to follow him out the training bay.

The two SPARTANs made their way through the destroyer down to deck seven, S-Deck, where they passed through a much larger set of heavy doors, unlike most other hatches throughout the ship, entering a small bay large enough to hold a fully equipped and operational armor RIG station, consisting of three pillars in the middle of the room, each containing an automated mechanical arm equipped with a set of tools needed for attaching and removing armor components, and a small terminal, fitted with six different glass panels displaying information, off to the side to operate and monitor the procedures.

Percival then states "Jorge if you like we can start with maintenance work up on your armor, seeing that five years aboard a Covenant vessel has taken its toll."

The big man shrugged stretching his shoulders "Good, I've been needing a good tune up for a while now."

"Excellent, SPARTAN James if you would kindly monitor the procedure."

Longarm nods to that and walks over to assume his post behind the terminal while Jorge steps into the station and spread out his arms as if he were an airplane.

"Beginning maintenance routine: Analyzing" the AI states as the arms began to unfold and emerge out of their respective storage units.

Longarm carefully watches each screen as they ran their usual diagnostics of Jorge's armor, mostly resulting in a strong recommendation for urgent maintenance or immediate replacement of new armor components. A blue box popped up on screen giving him the option on whether to maintain or replace to which he simply presses his index finger against the 'MAINTAIN' box, which resulted in the box vanishing from the monitor display, and the mechanical arms got to work refurnishing the armor and running all electrical systems through a kind of reboot.

"Ahsoka is on her way down" Percival warns.

"Don't worry about it, we're just cleaning up that's all" Longarm reassures the AI.

The procedure continued underway as expected until another box appeared in front of James stating that Jorge's 'Armor Lock' armor enhancement is damaged rendering it unable to operate, another box appeared asking for which model of armor enhancements should replace the damaged component.

"Hey Jorge, looks like your armor lock enhancement is damaged, want me to switch it in for a new one?"

"Yeah go right ahead" the big man replies remaining still.

He gets to work selecting a new armor lock enhancement for replacement and the arms got to work detaching the damaged module in order to make room for an operating one. The two hear the doors open and close prompting James to look back and see Ahsoka enjoying a pear, curtesy of the _Vanguard's_ cryogenic freezer units that miraculously remained functional after the crash, as she walks up next to him and watch the procedure.

She takes another bite and swallows before asking "What's going on here?"

"Routine maintenance" Longarm replies.

"Don't you guys need a certified technician or something for things like this?"

Percival responds "Normally yes but I'm still more than capable of performing this operation without human aid."

"Fair enough . . ." she replies before taking another bite.

A fourth box appeared reporting that the new armor enhancement has been replaced and is nearly done with the maintenance run, he simply waves it aside and continues to monitor the process until it was finally completed. The arms completed their tasks and retracted back into the pillars allowing Jorge to lower his arms and wait for the AI's reports.

"Armor integrity has been restored to a significant degree, shielding systems green, armor enhancement green. You are now cleared for duty SPARTAN-052."

Jorge shrugs his shoulders and stretches his limbs stating "Good, I've been itching for a little payback."

James then started to switch places with his good friend and assumes position inside the armor RIG putting his arms out to the side allowing Percival to begin diagnostics. The monitors began to display information and reports to Jorge and Ahsoka on Longarm's MJOLNIR and Jorge presses his fingers against the 'MAINTAIN' button causing the arms to come out and begin the process all over once more. Due to the SPARTAN's recent history, ranging back from the skirmish on Toydaria and brawl with General Grievous up all the way to the engagement with the Covenant three days ago, Percival needed to replace some components that were damaged beyond repair from the blaster fire and plasma burns, making the process for Longarm significantly longer. On the bright side, James's active camouflage armor enhancement is overall intact and still in functioning condition, Percival was fortunate that he could work around the armor enhancement and continue on with the routine procedure. Armor components here and there were subsequently replaced by the mechanical arms, exchanging the old and damaged in favor for the new and combat ready, giving Ahsoka brief glimpses of the SPARTAN's _actual_ body, appearing to be much smaller than she imagined but nonetheless still large and very muscular. Eventually the process was completed and he was allowed to walk out of the RIG where he stretches his arms and legs getting a feel for the replaced components.

"Shiny . . ." Jorge comments with a humorous grin on his face.

"And we're in time as well, I'm registering several celestial bodies on approach, we appear to be coming out of slipspace" the AI reports.

James's mind jumped into action "Good, once we drop out we'll need all the information you can get."

"Actually . . . I'm beginning to receive outgoing communications from local settlements, all referring to attacks being reported in one region. I'm putting latest one through now . . ."

The intercoms crackled harshly before a woman's voice, frightened to death, call out with plea "Please! Does a-ne hear me!? We're - - attack by unknown -! If anyone is li- please respond! God help us!"

James quickly gave his next order "Percival, prep the pelican for launch. If you catch sight of that corvette I want you to put its ass in the ground" he then turns to Jorge and Ahsoka "Get your gear together, round two is about to start."

Ahsoka and Jorge nodded complying with those order and the three rushed out of the RIG bay making their way back up to deck eleven where they gathered their weapons, Ahsoka obtaining fresh magazines for her fallback weapon, the compact M6C, James taking his SRS99-D Anti-Materiel rifle and loading out his ammo pouches with high caliber rounds, and a BR55HB rifle as a backup, and Jorge who was mounting a hefty Mark IV/LBE-A Field Case onto his back and picking up his newly customized M247H Heavy Machine Gun already loaded out with a full box of 50. Caliber High-Velocity High-Explosive ammunition.

Ahsoka takes a glance at Jorge carrying the massive gun by his waist and asks "Got enough firepower?"

The big man laughs however "Ha! You can never have too much firepower."

Longarm slings his sniper rifle around his right shoulder and orders "Come on people, we don't want to be late."

"I'd hate to be late to a party" Tano comments with a gentle grin as she begins to follow the SPARTAN sniper.

"When Jorge's around, he _is_ the party."

Jorge chuckles "Telling it like it is . . ." as he brings up the rear behind Ahsoka leaving the armory.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	24. Intercept

**Vanguard **

**Chapter 24**

**"****Intercept"**

[Ukio System, Abrion Sector]

In the upper atmosphere over the agricultural planet called Ukio, nearly two kilometers beneath the planetary shields, a small flicker of lighting skipped across the vast blue sky before a large dark blue portal with a pitch black center tore open allowing the four hundred eighty five meter destroyer _Vanguard_, along with the docked sixty four meter Gozanti-class Cruiser, to come charging out into realspace at a hundred sixty seven knots as it began to approach the surface.

"Slipspace transition complete, confirmed position to be in the upper atmosphere of the planet called Ukio in the Abrion system, and we managed to pass through what seemed to be a planet-wide shielding system."

"Think the Covenant is already attacking the farmers down there?" Tano asks fearing the worst.

Jorge was already climbing into the pelican's troopbay where he sets his heavy machine gun on the floor and calls out "Well we'll never know unless we get moving."

The two nodded to that and climbed into the dropship with him where Ahsoka took her seat across from Jorge and James continued making his way forward into the cockpit where he sits down in the front seat. He looks up and flips several switches, causing the troopbay doors to close up and pressurize the interior, and took the flight controls into his hands.

"Opening hangar bay doors" Percival states through the pelican's intercom systems.

The two large bulkhead doors began to slide open as Longarm engages the pelican's thrusters, housed in four vector pylons mounted as the 'wings' of the aircraft, until the door was opened far enough where he pushes the throttle lever forward launching the dropship straight of the hangar and made its descent towards the surface below.

"Percival, get me a fix on that distress call we retrieved" the SPARTAN pilot demands.

"Several kilometers north, northwest of our current coordinates" the AI replied.

He changes vector and makes a hard dive towards the surface, with Ahsoka and Jorge hanging on to whatever was in arm's length when she asks the big man "Does he do this a lot!?"

"Only when lives are at stake! Just a heads up you might want to lock yourself in incase we come across any homing projectiles!"

"Like what!?"

"Well there's always plasma torpedoes by chance! One hit from one of those and we'll be nothing but free floating molecules!"

"That's comforting!" she replies sarcastically.

James's voice called out through the pelican's intercoms "We're levelling out now . . . we'll be in the AO in five mikes, check your gear and get ready for a hot drop."

Jorge complied with those orders as he stood up from his seat and started checking over his M247H machine gun, going over the ammunition box containing two hundred .50 Caliber High-Velocity, Explosive shells, ensuring the heat cover was firmly attached over the barrel, and running several safety checks before giving himself a nod of approval. Tano eventually stands up afterwards and pulls out her M6C, pulling the slide back making sure the chamber was clean before loading the first round into the barrel, just as James showed her, and then holsters it before standing quietly.

Jorge couldn't help to ask when he saw the hilts "What're those you got there?"

She takes one up in her right hand "This? It's called a lightsaber, a well-recognized symbol of the Jedi Order. Each Jedi has one."

She activates the saber, erecting a bright green blade of energy in front of the two, "Can cut clean through just about anything."

"Reminds me of those covenant energy swords . . . how did you meet James?"

"We met on Coruscant when someone I know found him, since then it's been nothing but fighting for the next several weeks. Between ourselves and others" she replies as she retracts the saber.

"Huh . . . and it looks like you're warming up to him."

She looks up at the towering soldier "Really? What told you that?"

"He did, back shortly after you two found me. We've been through many battles with the Covenant for over nearly three decades, fighting on every front, holding onto every inch of soil. You can imagine how close we are. And if anyone's a friend of his then they're a good friend of mine as well, you can count on it that I'll watch your back so long as you got mine."

"Deal" she replies holding out her hand.

The big man in return holds out his, showing a huge difference in size comparison between the two, and the shook on it as newfound allies moments before their mutual friend in the cockpit calls out "I got visual on a small village ETA one mike, opening the rear doors."

The troopbay doors cracked open letting the wind and noise to rush in, the two saw nothing but acres of crops, some seemed to have black craters in them, and the closer they drew to the village the slower the pelican decelerated, the louder the chaos became. Soon enough they pass over the first small building engulfed in flames and saw innocent people run for their lives, while some took up arms and fight, while numerous Covenant soldiers slaughtered the ones they caught.

Longarm's voice roared out "GREEN LIGHT!"

Jorge was the first to jump off with Ahsoka leaping after him as Longarm began engaging the Covenant with the pelican's chin-mounted 70mm chain gun, spewing depleted uranium slugs down below in fast and devastating bursts of fire, tearing up the enemy where they stood. The eight foot SPARTAN came crashing down into the dirt below and begun to let loose a lethal barrage of high caliber rounds onto a surprised sangheili minor, tearing the shields apart and mauling the body till it was nothing but a purple slag of flesh. Tano on the other hand was light on her feet, gently coming to a landing unlike her heavier companion, and drew her dual sabers before charging towards a pair of unsuspecting Kig-yar marksman, wielding carbines, cutting through them with relative ease before an elite major appears with sword in hand and engages her.

A frightened woman spots Ahsoka engaging the sangheili in a duel and calls out to the others around her "It's the Jedi! They came to save us!"

However a man nearby couldn't take his eyes off of the armored giant, currently reducing the Covenant's numbers at a drastic rate, and asks "But what the hell is that!? Some kind of droid!?"

Jorge ignores the question when he spots two Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft closing in on James's pelican and quickly gets on the radio to warn his friend "Heads up, you got two banshees coming in hotl!"

Longarm briefly checks his sensors and sees the two inbound blips to his left before stating "I see 'em Jorge, hold out until I can take care of them."

"Right, don't keep us waiting!"

Ahsoka quickly deals a deadly swipe to the sangheili before looking up in time to see the pelican take evasive maneuvers as two purple aircrafts approaches at relatively high speed firing their plasma repeating cannons at the large and bulky UNSC dropship. The pelican immediately engages its four thruster engines and takes off like a jet with the banshees in hot pursuit leaving her and Jorge without air support for the time being until Longarm returns.

The covenant forces eventually turns their attention to the eight foot SPARTAN, calling him 'demon' as they charge blindly at him, and her as she quickly puts down a small lance of grunts with relative ease.

Jorge calls out as he engages the alien aggressors ahead of him "This is where the fun begins! I'll cover our front while you handle the flanks!"

"On it!" Tano replied before coming to Jorge's side.

One after another the disorganized village fighters soon began to rally behind the two as they soon started to put up an effective resistance, becoming from something that would be considered negligible to something more firm and defiant against the covenant onslaught, and started their push against the invaders with what weapons they have available. Upon seeing numerous men and women coming to their aid, Jorge begins to make his push steadily walking towards the steadfast alien attackers with Ahsoka becoming his shield as she deflects incoming bolts of plasma with her two sabers.

It wasn't long into the intensifying firefight when James's pelican streams overhead, laying down heavy cover fire with the dropship's autocannon and missile fire from the wing-mounted missile pods before gaining altitude with only one banshee still in pursuit now. With the covenant now suffering heavy casualties from both the resistance fighters and their new allies they were quickly put on the retreat with small Unggoy running for their lives while the Sangheili and Kig-yar falls back in a somewhat organized fashion but the invaders were far from throwing in the towel.

In the distance Jorge could make out a lone Sangheili field master, adorned in its obvious golden armor, giving orders to a pair of hunters before the two giants began their charge to the front lines to which he calls out "I got visual on hunters!"

The Mgalekgolo were fearsome shock troops of the Covenant Empire, and these were no exceptions, with their heavy shields raised to protect their front they charged through their own comrades in arms, plowing through those that weren't fast enough to get out of the way. Jorge immediately switched his aiming from various threats and solely focused his fire on the charging giants, .50 caliber rounds merely ricocheting off of their shields but there were those few that marginally missed the defense and struck into the hunter's main body armor.

The hunters came within melee range, with the first swiftly raising its cumbersome shield over its head and bringing it down like a hammer towards Ahsoka, and the second making an arm sweep trying to knock several settlers aside with a killing blow. Jorge continues to unload high caliber rounds into his target as he slowly circles around it while the settlers continued pushing back the remaining Covenant with what momentum they had.

The young togruta on the other hand was ducking left and right as her hunter continues to swing its overweight shield in an attempt to kill her swiftly but she was proven to be too agile for the lumbering behemoth. She soon slides beneath one last attack before leaping onto the giant's back and plunge her two sabers into its back, killing numerous individual lekgolo worms, causing the hunter to let out a guttural roar in agony. She then dismounts from its injured back and finishes it with a scissor-like slash with her two blades across its exposed mid-section, slicing it in halves thus effectively 'killing' the hunter while any remaining worm slithered away.

Jorge was slowly chipping away at the hunter with his heavy machine gun until moments later when the attacking hunter was immediately engulfed in heavy gunfire raining from above, he takes the moment to look up to see a lightly damaged pelican, hovering over them, firing its chin-mounted chain gun reducing the hulking behemoth to a slag of orange flesh. The gun then swiveled away and began putting 70mm uranium rounds down onto the now retreating covenant forces, mauling groups of them with pinpoint lethality. Between the advancing civilians, aided by the SPARTAN and Jedi, and the floating gunship, the Covenant was losing troops faster than they could run with some getting hit by incoming blaster bolts and high caliber rounds.

It was only a matter of seconds before the last of the alien aggressors were now beyond the village outskirts and the civilians celebrated with victorious cheers while the pelican gently came to a landing in the village center.

A human female, a high ranking member of the community by the looks of it, approaches Ahsoka and gratefully sighs in relief "Thank you Jedi . . . if were not for you and your droid we wouldn't have survived. What is your name?"

Tano gives a gentle smile "It's Ahsoka Tano . . . we're happy to help."

The woman then shifted her eyes to the armored giant standing behind the togruta "And the droid. Where did you acquire such a fearsome thing?"

Jorge sets his weapon down and takes his helmet off "Sorry ma'am, we're all sold out on the market."

"Oh . . ." she exclaims with surprised "I'm so sorry. I thought you wer-"

But the SPARTAN raises a hand "It's alright ma'am."

James soon comes up, his anti-materiel rifle slung over his shoulder, reporting "The covenant are heading east away from here, most likely trying to regroup with another unit or to get an evac back to the corvette."

"Speaking of which, did Percival find it yet?" Tano asks.

"He deployed the wombats to search for it, but nothing yet."

Jorge then gestures towards the pelican "Then let's get back in the air and keep the pressure on them" and begins to walk away with his weapon in hand.

But his friend stops him "That's not going to happen Jorge, those banshees put up a helluva fight. If we keep on them then it's likely they'll send seraphs to take it down. We can't risk losing the dropship."

"Then what the hell are we going to do? March our way to them?"

But that was when the woman steps in "If you're looking for ground transport, perhaps we can help you as a way of thanking you."

Ahsoka turns to the farmer "What do you have?"

Several minutes later and the four approached a large storage building, the woman signals two men to open the large sliding doors and revealed five abandoned clone AT-RT scout walkers. The All Terrain Recon Transport was a lightly armored open seat bipedal vehicle that stands nearly three meters tall and armed with a medium high-powered repeating blaster cannon, capable of piercing the side armor of a droid AAT tank, and is capable of running up to speeds at seventy to ninety kilometers an hour.

"Scout walkers? But this is Republic military equipment, how did you even get them?" Ahsoka asks.

"We salvaged these walkers from the battle between the Republic and Separatist Alliance back in the earlier days of the war, their riders all have been killed and they were left with no owners until we found them. They proved instrumental in warding off pirates and unwanted pests, unfortunately we couldn't reach them when this 'covenant' came out of nowhere calling us heretics and started to slaughter our people."

"You're lending us your walkers?" Longarm asks.

"No, we're giving them to you as a thank you from us. We can manage our own without them, especially with the weapons we're scavenging from the dead now."

The SPARTAN sniper walks up to the closet walker and runs his gloved hand against its durasteel armor plating, cold and rough, he then turns to the woman "We'll only need two."

The woman nodded with a grin "Very well."

He then looks to Ahsoka "C'mon, you can teach me how to use these things."

He catches a smirk from her as she walks over and climbs aboard one of the walkers with him following suit, Jorge states "I'll take the pelican back to the _Vanguard_, make sure you two have an evac if you need it."

The togruta nods before activating the walker, prompting it to stand on its two mechanical legs, and advises him "Stay safe Jorge" to which the big man nods with a grin and heads out to the pelican.

She then looks over to Longarm who was searching the control panel before randomly pressing a green switch which then activated the walker and stood up, the sudden jolt of activation almost caused the SPARTAN to fall over from unbalancing. She chuckles under her breath before grabbing hold of the two handle bars and push ahead, causing her walker to go into a steady march. She watches him learn from observation and pushed forward making his own walker move into formation alongside her.

It took the two a few minutes to reach the outskirts before they looked up to see the pelican taking off from the center making its way back to the destroyer in the atmosphere.

The two turned their attention back on the plains ahead of them, as they continued to march through the grasslands, when Ahsoka looked over to the SPARTAN next to him and ask "So your name is James?"

"Yeah . . ." he answers politely.

"Got a last name?"

"Just the number . . ."

"So James-121 then. Whatever happened to your actual last name?"

"It's hard to remember . . . guess three decades of war will do that to a person's memory."

"I can't imagine a war lasting that long . . . not for ideals or territories, but just for survival."

James's mind then came back to something long ago "About seven years ago, two years before coming here, I was sent on a reconnaissance mission to investigate an ancient ruin left by a civilization that once ruled our galaxy little over a hundred thousand years ago."

"What were they called?" Ahsoka asks now with full curiosity, always willing to learn more about the SPARTAN's galaxy.

"They were known as the Forerunners."

She then began to listen attentively "The Forerunners were a wise, intelligent, noble people with the belief in justice and peace for all sentient beings in the galaxy. They created artificial worlds of unimaginable size, their ships could travel across the galaxy almost instantly, their military twice- maybe five times that than the Covenant and the UNSC combined, and AIs so advanced that they can command fleets of thousands with ease, something a UNSC smart AI can only do with a single vessel. Their culture revolved around one thing they all held so close to them, the Mantle of Responsibility."

"What was that?"

"I'm not so sure myself about the details of it but there's a saying to it: Guardianship for all living things lies with those whose evolution is most complete. The Mantle of Responsibility shelters all."

"So . . . whoever is the most technologically advanced is declared the guardians of the galaxy."

The SPARTAN nodded "That's right."

"What happened to the Forerunners?"

"Well . . . just like every great empire they had their downfall. During the mission to a Forerunner installation I was met by a monitor, a construct that oversees all operations there. She said that she hasn't seen another living being for a hundred thousand years after the activation of what she referred to as 'the array'. The curious side of me showed and she was all too excited, she led me to a terminal where she told me everything she knew, the Forerunners, the Flood, the war, and Halo . . ."

Ahsoka continues to listen silently "Records have it that the Forerunners were enjoying a time a peace and prosperity when a parasitic lifeform known as the Flood appeared from the depths of space and began consuming their worlds. With the belief in the Mantle, the Forerunners stepped up to the challenge and enacted a galaxy-wide war that lasted for centuries that became a power struggle across multiple fronts. While the Forerunners pushed back on several fronts, the Flood in turn continued to take over worlds in matter of hours and with it their entire populations turning every soul against one another. Eventually the Forerunners, despite their advanced weaponry, ships, and armor were forced on the defensive but no matter how heavily fortified their worlds were with their armada of ships and armies of soldiers, the Flood would always win. It was then in the final days of the war when the Forerunners were about to initiate the final solution, Halo."

"The Halo array consisted of seven ringworlds, each reaching ten thousand kilometers in diameter, and carried the power to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. With the Forerunners now badly losing the war, the strategy changed from conventional warfare to asset denial- prevent the Flood from consuming any more lives and starve them out. The Forerunners knew what was at stake and knew what needed to be done, a thousand plans tried and failed, this was their final resort. And finally, a war that lasted so long was over in an instant. Every intelligent lifeform in the galaxy was obliterated."

Ahsoka was having a lot to take in, but in summary she states "They sacrificed themselves in order to bring peace back to the galaxy . . . that's unbelievable . . ."

"I had a hard time believing it too trust me. But the monitor was sure of it and so that was written history . . . After the war a contingency plan was activated through the help of the constructs they had left behind, during the war the Forerunners had collected biological samples, embryos, even live specimens before the activation, and begun to reseed the galaxy with life afterwards. Human, Covenant, everything was placed back where they should belong all with the hope that life will return to the stars and become just as strong as they were through peace."

"Sadly that's not the case anymore."

"No. It isn't. But it was because of them that we're here now, not just you and I, as a species."

The two continued marching through the open plains, looking around them for any signs of the Covenant, until they were several kilometers away from the village when Ahsoka came up with another question "Do you think that's why humanity is here in our galaxy?"

"What?" James asks not expecting another question after the long period of silence.

"You know, humans, is it possible that's why they're here? Because of the Forerunners?"

"Huh . . . guess I never really thought about that. It is possible. And records have it that it's likely some Forerunners did survive when they fled the galaxy after the activation of the array."

"So they could be here as well?"

"It wouldn't surprise me . . . maybe they have a way where Jorge and I can return home if we wanted."

He then notices her expression turned, from curiosity to the sense of loneliness, and states "But. This galaxy seems to hold a whole new adventure for us, all of us."

He quickly caught a small grin from the togruta just before coming over a small hill and look ahead just in time to catch sight of what they were looking for "Contact, five hundred meters out."

Tano looks forward ahead and spots four purple objects moving at relatively high speeds but something didn't feel right "They're not running . . ."

"They're attacking. Ghosts shouldn't be too much of a challenge for our walkers right?"

"Only one way to find out."

On that note Ahsoka pushes forward on the throttle that sent her walker into a head on sprint with James following suit. The two sides were closing in one another, four Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicles '_ghost_' against two AT-RTs, until Ahsoka began firing her cannon once they came within range. The blue high-powered bolts of energized plasma zipped across the landscape and smashes into the glacis armor of the nearest ghost, each round tearing a scorching hole into the vehicle before the plasma drive core became ruptured and detonates engulfing the vehicle and its rider in a bright blue explosion. Longarm then took aim and began to fire away at his own target, though his rounds were narrowly missing the target until finally a single round eviscerates the ghost's left wing causing it to lose control and eventually crash, killing the pilot in the process.

The remaining two ghosts finally came within weapon range and began firing away with their dual Type-2 plasma repeating cannons sending a volley of superheated plasma back at the incoming walkers. Fortunately the walkers were still out of the ghosts' optimal weapon range, which was vastly shorter than that of the AT-RTs' cannons, but there were the few occasions when a bolt struck against the light durasteel armor boiling it away. Ahsoka and Longarm continue to return fire while strafing left and right avoiding the incoming fire, Tano quickly downs another vehicle whereas the SPARTAN was still having issues getting the proper aim on his target.

"Forget this!" he scolds himself before going into a full on charge towards the ghost, firing its cannons in an attempt to stop the walker, until he presses down on the throttle at his foot causing the three meter tall AT-RT to leap into the air and come crashing down on top of the ghost, crushing it and the pilot with ease.

"You should get your eyes checked! Think your superior aiming is starting to wear down" Tano mocks him as she approaches him.

"Ha ha ha you're hysterical" he replies sarcastically before turning his attention back to the wreckage "These were only scouts, more than likely they sent a transmission back to their commanders before attacking, they know we're here."

"Well they're not a problem anymore, what can they do about it?"

As if by cue the two heard a small series of low but powerful thumps in the distance, as if a small battery of artillery just fired a barrage, soon enough Longarm looks up to the sky to see three large bluish blobs of superheated plasma already coming down on them after being fired from a position beyond the next hill.

He only had enough time to yell out "AHSOKA MOVE!" and immediately dash away.

Tano only had a second to react and instantly followed suit just before the bulbs smashed into the ground with devastating effect, dirt and tall grass were thrown into the air while the immediate area of impact was vaporized and burned to glass.

Ahsoka felt the intense heat roll over her before coming to a stop next to Longarm and demand "What the heck was that!?"

"Wraiths! Over the hill!" the SPARTAN responded as he charges up the hill, Tano had little choice but to follow him up.

"What's a wraith!?" she asks just seconds before coming over the hill to see three massive vehicles, each featuring a bulbous purple prow with wings, similar to that of a ghost's but much larger, a small plasma repeating turret just above the pilot's hatch, and what appeared to be a large forward facing plasma mortar weapon mounted on top.

She then catches James dashing in towards the tanks firing his cannon at their armored glacis plate, but the first four bolts were dissipated by an energy shield that surrounded the wraiths. She eventually follows his lead and moves in guns blazing, she sets her sights on the vehicle on the far left while Longarm targeted the center despite receiving fire from the far right.

She continues to put rounds on target until the shields finally fell after the fourth impact, to which the vehicle's automated defense turret activates and open fire with a rapid barrage of plasma fire forcing her to target the turret, and with a few well-placed shots from the walker's cannon the defense turret was disabled.

She glances over at the SPARTAN, who just knocked the center vehicle's shields and begun strafing the tank's armor, before turning back to her target and quickly find the primary plasma mortar aimed directly at her with lights flashing as a sign of a weapon charge up. She immediately dashes to her left, evading the weapon's discharge and the ground she once stood on was burned to a glass-like surface, and begins firing away at the prow but she quickly realizes that the tank's armor, despite being made of the same nano-laminate material, was much more durable than the lighter ghosts with each blast leaving a smoldering dent in the thick plating.

Longarm noticed the togruta was having difficulties penetrating the frontal armor and calls out "They can only aim at the front! Target the core at the rear!" before dashing away avoiding a brief spray of automatic plasma fire.

As instructed, Tano quickly uses to the AT-RT's superior mobility to flank the vehicle, that was too slow to keep track of its target, and quickly find the exposed gyrating drive core located at the back of the chassis. With a two rapid shots from her cannon, the core became ruptured and began to go critical causing the tank pilot to scramble out of the cockpit and flee just before the vehicle erupts in a bright blue explosion.

The destruction of the first vehicle was quickly followed up with a second after James had placed enough shots into the center tank's weaker sides disabling it now only leaving the last tank, which was beginning to fall back and open fire with both of its weapons. Ahsoka quickly charges in with Longarm following her in as the two kept out of the mortar's firing line while avoiding the defense turret's barrage of plasma until it was ultimately destroyed by Tano with another well-placed shot. This granted the SPARTAN to move to the rear and place one last blast straight into the core, destroying the tank and the pilot inside.

Ahsoka comes to a stop next to the SPARTAN and asks "Does the Covenant have everything shielded?"

"Normally not tanks, these models are pretty old compared to the more modern ones I've seen."

"How old?" she asks curiously.

"Back near the beginning of the war old. The first time I've seen them was during the first battle of Arcadia back in '31."

"Well let's keep going, the Covenant can't be too far ahead if they're sending tanks to stop us."

Longarm nodded "Agreed" and the two resumed their march in pursuit of the retreating covenant forces.

[Hours later . . .]

It was around midnight with the two still continuing their march through the grasslands, dark, cold, and seemingly void of life with the exception of them. Longarm was carefully scanning the area ahead of them, vigilantly searching for any movement, while Tano was keeping her eyes forward enjoying the relative silence of the night. For once she was actually enjoying this quiet moment, something the two haven't had much since they first met back on Courscant, and she began to wonder about the story the SPARTAN had told her about the Forerunners as it raised several questions in her mind.

The foremost of all, is it possible that the Forerunners were responsible for human presence in the galaxy, every human she known could be a descendant of beings that were from a different galaxy long ago. There was a lot of speculation but now wasn't the time to dwell on them, not with the Covenant possibly waiting for them or worse attacking another settlement.

Then suddenly she hears James's voice "We should stop and make camp here."

She turns to him, who was stopping his walker and powering it down "What? Shouldn't we keep going and find out where they're at?"

Longarm was already climbing off when he answered "We could but that would be risking some needed hours of sleep. I'll get a fire started."

Ahsoka was about to ask another question but she stops herself, knowing it'll be hard to persuade the SPARTAN otherwise, and she too powers down and climbs off. It didn't take long afterwards to make a small campfire, using stones and some dried tall grass, and the two were sitting around it from across each other.

Tano watched James carefully tend to the fire with a stick ". . . Do you miss it?" she asks.

The SPARTAN-ll looks up at her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the fire "Miss what?"

"Home . . ."

She catches a small sigh from him before he answered "Well. I suppose there are some things I do miss. Before the war."

"What were they?"

"A lot of things . . . family, my homeworld, a normal life . . . list goes on."

"No friends?" she asks.

"The only friends I had is Jorge and another SPARTAN, Rose, and now there's you to that list."

She took a moment to grin before she asks "Where were you born?"

"A human colony world called New Harmony. It had beautiful cities along with pristine plains just like this, it was also the place where the UNSC won a naval engagement against the Covenant and drove them back."

"You must feel pretty lucky . . ."

"I was, I fought on the ground trying to push them back to one of their deployment zones. As fate had it I ended fighting through my neighborhood I used to live, my parents were still living there."

"Did you find them and were they alright?"

Longarm picked up his stick and began tending the fire "Yes and no . . . I found them both lying in their bed together with self-inflicted gunshot wounds to their heads."

"They committed suicide? How do you know?"

"Because the wounds were made by conventional firearm, not a plasma based weapon, and . . ." he sets the stick aside and reaches into the waist bag located on his lower back revealing a blocky silver handgun with a revolving cylinder in the middle "I found this in my father's hand with two of the six rounds recently fired."

She didn't know what to say, knowing he found his parents after committing suicide during a covenant invasion was breathtaking, but the SPARTAN continues "This a 21st century Smith and Wesson Model 686 Combat Revolver, it fires a 357. Magnum caliber round with enough stopping power to put a full grown Sangheili down on their asses."

She couldn't help but stare at him, wanting to ask him the question in her mind, until he shortly caught on and answers "If you were going to ask, yes it was quick and painless for them. Just as I hoped it would."

"Longarm . . . I'm so sorry . . ."

"Don't be" he replies calmly as he sat back with the revolver in his hands "You had nothing to do with it. It was before your time . . ."

Tano could feel the anger and the sorrow swelling up inside him but it surprises her how well he was able to mask it, the helmet most likely helped. She watched him move his hands around the revolver, spinning the cylinder ever so quietly. She figured now was the good time to let the subject go.

"I'll take first watch, make sure the Covenant doesn't get the drop on us."

Ahsoka didn't want to argue "Alright . . . wake me if you need me."

"Will do . . ."

On that note she finds a comfortable spot to lie down, facing the silent SPARTAN, she continued to watch him inspect the handgun he must've looked out dozens of times before until she turned over and closed her eyes.

The last thing she heard from him was "Night Ahsoka . . ."

"Night James . . ."

**Sorry for another LONG ass wait. Between work, friends, and a little project of mine. I haven't been able to progress much through the chapters. But I'm doing what I can when I can and I'm sorry. As always leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	25. Armored Warfare

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 25**

**"****Armored warfare"**

[Grasslands, Ukio]

[Morning]

Ahsoka was sleeping well on the ground she laid on, the dirt beneath her was soft and warm like her bed aboard the _Vanguard_, another benefit for the UNSC over the Republic, but something began to feel wrong. This disturbing feeling prompted the young togruta to slowly wake up, her eyes flittering, until she found herself face to face with a sangheili lying dead literally inches from her.

"AAH!" she yelped as she scrambles away from the corpse.

"Oh good you're awake" James's voice chirped from behind her.

She quickly turns her head to find him sitting down with his armor partly covered in a mix of dark purple and florescent blue blood, "What happened!?"

He came with a question of his own "What do you think happened?"

Ahsoka stood up to her feet and looked around to see an entire squad of covenant soldiers lying dead all around them, she then turned to the SPARTAN with an unamused expression "You planned this."

"What?" he asks as if insulted.

"You planned this I know you did."

"Do you honestly think I would risk your life by using us as bait in the middle of the night just to lure a covenant squad out from hiding after following us from the skirmish with the tanks?"

She stared at him with her hands on her hips not saying another word, he couldn't help but shrug his shoulders "Sorry."

She then pressed her hand against her forehead and asks "Please tell me you're alright."

"I don't see any red on me so I think I'm good."

She sighs "I told you to wake me if you needed me."

"I know and I didn't need you. Besides you looked like you were enjoying your sleep."

She then crossed her arms and frowned at him "I was . . ."

He eventually started to stand up "Well no sense in sitting around here, I mean unless you enjoy our new company."

She knew he had a small grin behind his helmet when she punched him in the shoulder as she passed by, the two then climbed aboard their walkers and resumed their hunt for the Covenant.

They passed over the next hill when Ahsoka took another look at the SPARTAN's MJOLNIR armor, caked with alien blood, and comment "That color suits you."

He scoffs "Funny. I'll be sure to remember that when you become covered in whatever the hell it may be."

She gave a light grin before facing forward again.

[Three hours later]

Hours passed and the two had yet to see any trace of their targets, the long silence was rather comforting for the two, not once did the two say a word ever since Ahsoka's remark on James's armor.

The story he told continued to nag at Tano, questions continue to stack up in her mind, so she needed to ask "What does the UNSC have to say about those records you find?"

The sudden break in the silence caught the SPARTAN off guard "Hm? Oh . . . they never got to know anything about it."

"What? What do you mean?"

He gives a light sigh "After I returned to the _Vanguard_ I began writing up a report that was supposed to go directly up to HIGHCOM, a committee consisting of the highest ranking members in all of human space, but unfortunately the Covenant arrived and immediately engaged afterwards, forcing us to jump into slipspace."

"And you didn't bother to make the report afterwards?"

"We couldn't, Slipstream Space is a dimensional subdomain of reality meaning anything outside the ship can become distorted and warped, unless you're underneath the vessel's protective shields, including outgoing messages. I had to wait for several months until we came out of slipspace at a randomly selected set of coordinates as per Cole Protocol."

"Cole Protocol?"

"The act of which if a UNSC or UEG vessel is forced to retreat from a confirmed Covenant presence they are by protocol supposed to jump away leading the Covenant away from any undiscovered human colony worlds, especially major population centers. If the Covenant manages to board a vessel, the crew is then ordered to erase all data from their servers including the ship's AI and set the ship to self-destruct. These were done in order to slow down the Covenant's advance through space."

"Ok then. You came out of slipspace then what?"

"Well not to anyone's surprise there was a CCS-Class Battlecruiser sitting lying in wait where we dropped out. So we had no choice but to make another jump as fast as possible."

"Wait they knew you were coming through slipspace? How?"

"The Covenant has always been faster than human ships, they even possessed the capability to track our exit vectors and follow us through before ending up ahead of us on the other side."

"So there was really no chance of you escaping then."

"No, during that time we spent nearly a year in slipspace trying to elude that cruiser. It was only until one day we came out of slipspace to find the cruiser destroyed and a small UNSC battlegroup waiting there."

"Well that's great, so then why haven't you made your report to HIGHCOM?"

"By the time I was about to send my report up, the captain received orders from NAVCOM to report to the fleet gathering over Fumirole. When I raised my argument to Lord Hood he said that my report would have to wait, believing that a planet is more important than ancient history. In a way I suppose he's right."

"So only you know about the Forerunners and the war . . ."

"Yeah."

It was then at that moment when Percival's voice crackled in the SPARTAN's helmet "Sierra-121 be advised, you have three unidentified contacts approaching from the west."

"What?" James asks seeming surprised when he turns around to see three Republic LAAT gunships with grey markings flying low overhead at combat speeds following one another, two were infantry transports while the third carried what appeared to be a giant mechanical beetle with six legs.

Longarm continued to watch them fly away into the distance, oddly enough in the same direction they were heading, but Ahsoka quickly recognized the markings and exclaimed "That's Master Plo!" and immediately takes off.

The SPARTAN reached out with his hand as a sign to stop "Ahsoka wait!" but she was gone in an instant with her walker charging over the hill ahead of them, he had little choice but to follow her.

On his way to catch up with Tano he takes the time to contact the _Vanguard_ "Percival, I need wombats over to my position, find out where those gunships are heading."

"Already on it. Wombat-Bravo has been deploy to your AO, ETA five minutes."

"Good. I need to know what we're walking into."

"You will be notified when Bravo arrives."

James signs off his helmet and kicks his walker into overdrive and eventually caught up with the togruta who was already sprinting far ahead of him.

He calls out to her "Ahsoka wait!" but she didn't respond as the two soon started to hear echoes of distant blaster fire and explosions beyond the next hill, they could see several smoke columns reaching high into the sky.

The moment they reached the top of the hill and looked down into the infinitely expanding plains Ahsoka was met with a scene she never wanted to see again. Two massive armies clashed in the open fields exchanging heavy fire, Covenant soldiers overwhelming clone positions while pockets of Republic forces continue to hold their ground regardless of the heavy losses the were gaining. LAATs, ARC-170 Starfighters, Seraphs, and Banshee interceptors blanketed the air in fierce and savage dogfights while Covenant Wraiths fitted with Anti-Air batteries filled the sky with heavy flak.

On the ground, squadrons of Republic AT-TEs march forward in steady formations, firing their forward facing quad laser cannons and the powerful top-mounted mass driver cannons, while the Covenant wraiths stayed at a distance and continue to lay down a furious barrage of heavy plasma fire from their thundering mortars, obliterating infantry positions and heavily damaging the armored walkers.

"That doesn't look good . . ." James mutters before turning to ask Tano "Think your friend is in that mess?"

"I'm sure of it" she replies, she took another moment to witness the sheer carnage of the battle before stating "Look Longarm, if this is battle is too much for you then I understand. But I'm going in there to find Master Plo."

She was met with silence before turning her look to him, to find him staring back at her through his expressionless helmet, and he asks "You do realize you're talking to a SPARTAN right? We were meant for this. C'mon lets go find your friend" before he takes off into the raging battle, she made a small proud grin before following him in.

[Meanwhile]

Jedi Master Plo Koon and clone Commander Wolffe, along with a squad of troopers called the 'Wolfpack', were holding their ground using a hastily constructed rampart and dug out foxholes with a two AT-TEs providing fire support about twenty meters behind them. The Jedi was effortlessly blocking bolts of plasma with his blue lightsaber, each bolt dissipates rather than deflects which he finds unique, while Wolffe and his fellow troopers made expert use of their defenses and their longer ranged weapons putting down accurate fire back at the enemy.

Plo Koon blocks another bolt of plasma just as a trooper pops out of his cover and takes aim only to be killed by an oncoming needle that struck him in the chest, piercing his plastoid armor and tearing into his chest before detonating, this prompted the Jedi to call out "We must hold the line! Keep the pressure on!"

Wolffe relayed the order to the others "You heard the General! Let 'em have it!"

Plo watched as the aliens in front of him were cut down by blaster fire, some caught in the open while others dove to the ground to avoid it and the rare few that embraced the incoming fire with their energy shielding. But the more they killed, there always seemed to be even more to replace them. He quickly spots a large alien in maroon armor, distinguished by their four mandibles, charging towards him with a dual pronged energy sword.

The alien stops and roars to the Jedi "Come fight me! Embrace a warrior's death!"

Plo Koon accepted the alien's challenge and charges towards him, leaving the rampart, with his lightsaber ready, the alien quickly entered a stance before lunging at the Jedi. The Jedi master quickly makes a downward swipe while his opponent in return raises a right uppercut, the two blades clashed and released a sudden burst of electrical discharge forcing the two to break away.

The alien lets out a gruff snarl before stepping towards the general and make a quick wide swing with his sword, Koon merely skips backwards eluding the blade before using the Force to grab his opponent and draw him in just as he raises his saber and impales the creature through the stomach. The warrior chocked and gasped just before drawing his last breath and fall over dead, another large alien, dressed in blue armor, roared in anger over the swordsman's death and the oncoming attack became ever more fierce, forcing the Jedi to fall back until he realized he was trapped and surrounded on all sides.

A clone barks out "General get outta there! You're exposed!"

But his time of opportunity to escape has gone the moment it came, another alien wielding a sword roars out "KILL THE HERETIC!"

One by one the soldiers charged the Jedi attempting to close in and kill him but Master Plo was a skilled swordsman and user of the Force. He strikes down the first attacker, a small but incredibly fast bird-like creature plated with thick natural black skin and feathers appearing out of the figure's head, before using a Force Push to blast away three more of the larger soldiers. Another sword wielder charges in and makes a high swing to decapitate the Jedi but Plo expertly dropped below the blade and made a deep slash across the opponent's midsection to which it falls to the ground dead.

Some of the lesser species, the small stumpy figures with breathing tanks on their backs, began to run away in fear while a new threat appeared in front of the Jedi and the Wolfpack, two hulking behemoths plated in heavy purple armor with orange exposed 'skin', a heavy silver metal shield mounted on the giants' left arms, and an unusually looking arm-mounted cannon on the right. The two giants were charging their way to the Jedi, ramming through friend and foe alike without care with their shields raised braving through the clones' blaster fire.

The Jedi Master went on the defensive just as the first giant came into striking range, raising its shielded arm high above its head before swinging it down smashing it into the ground like a sledgehammer, he quickly skips back and makes a swipe at the shield with his saber. To his surprise his sword only made a scratch against the hardened metal and was forced to fall back to where his troopers were.

"Concentrate fire on the two larger ones!" he orders to his men.

One clone responded "Sir yes sir!" just before most of the troopers turned their aim on their new target and open fired.

The behemoths continued to face enemy fire until one charged its arm cannon and fired a green pulsating fuel rod canister aimed at a portion of the rampart, the shot slammed into the defensive wall and blasted away the part of the rampart as well as the two troopers that stood behind it killing them instantly in a display of green radioactive fire. The other quickly followed suit and fires a shot directed at one of the walkers behind the troopers, the canister slammed into one of the walker's forward facing cannons, destroying it outright while severely damaging the glass cockpit that sat right next to it.

Wolffe barks out "Protect the walkers!" before laying down fire with his dual DC-17 pistols.

The clones continue to hold the line as long as they could, some scoring a kill here and there while some fell to intensifying plasma fire and needles. Plo Koon continued to distract the two giant creatures but it was proving to become futile every time he heard one of his men cry out in pain after being impaled by a needle or their body boiled after a bolt of superheated plasma struck it. This enemy was certainly unlike any he had seen before, one with a zealous hatred towards humans and others that align themselves with them.

Shortly after one of the giants was blown away into a hundred worm-like pieces after taking a direct hit from one of the walkers' mass driver cannon, however this turned out to be a dangerous move once the other went into a fit of utter rage. The monster immediately began to charge the rampart, ramming through the defenses like an enraged bull, and began to tear the clones apart with unmatched ferocity.

"LOOK OUT LOOK OUT!" one clone cries out just before being crushed on the weight of the shield that was brought down on him like a hammer.

The clone defenders quickly backed away from the beast, firing their blasters on the giant as it tore through their numbers. Plo Koon knew this thing was on the verge of wiping out his entire squad in seconds and he needed to deal with it, he leaps from his post on top of the rampart and quickly sprints to aid his men.

"Take it down! Take it down!" a clone barks.

"Watch the arms! Watch it!" another yells as he fired his rifle.

"I got it! I got- AAGH" a trooper screams as he was brutally swept aside by the hulking shield.

The giant was unrelenting, decimating trooper after trooper, until it turned its sights on the approaching Jedi and lets out a guttural roar before charging at full speed ramming any clone that was caught in its path. The alien finally came within striking range and makes a hard wide swing with its shield, attempting to smash the Jedi, but Plo Koon was just as agile as the beast was as he leapt over the shield and lands on the giant's back. The creature lets out another roar as it reached back to grab the Kel Dor until the master made a single swipe with his saber and severed the opponent's right arm, the giant was even more enraged until Plo plunges his blade straight into the monster's back forcing it to let out a cry of agony. Then almost immediately the Jedi Master withdraws his saber and makes another slash, this time aimed for the creature's neck, effectively decapitating it before jumping off. However to his surprise the giant was still standing and somewhat still capable of fighting as it slowly turned around emitting a low threatening growl but was ended immediately once he made one final swipe at the giant's midsection. The giant then collapsed to the ground, small worms fleeing the empty armor in whichever way possible however Plo was able to grab on before it got too far and examine it.

"Precarious little creature . . ." the Kel Dor mutters as the worm wriggled and squealed to be released.

Wolffe quickly rushes to the general "Sir! Great job taking that thing down, but we lost a lot of men. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold."

"What about our other fronts?" he asks.

"Not too good sir, we're getting multiple reports of the enemy overwhelming our positions. Their armor is tearing us to pieces."

"Then we'll need to do something about that as quickly as possible."

"I can get a small strike team together, hit them from behind."

"Very well, do what you-"

"Kotuya Master Plo!"

He quickly stops himself and turns around to see Ahsoka Tano and a large dark armored figure arrive on a pair of AT-RTs, his heart was lifted above all the horrible carnage he had seen today "Kotuya Little Soka . . . it is good to see you again."

"Likewise Master" she replied as she climbed offer her walker and run up to him "Is everyone alright?"

"I'd be lying if I said we were doing better than we hoped."

Longarm had already dismounted his walker and already sprinted past the two without greeting the Jedi, prioritizing the Covenant over a friendly hello, which Plo merely watched the armored soldier rush to the front before asking "I see Longarm is still in your company."

"You know him?"

"Master Kenobi spoke highly of his combat skills and equipment, though I question his allegiance . . ."

"He means well Master don't worry. And you're really lucky to have him here today."

"How so?"

"He's an expert when it comes to these guys, stay out of his way and he'll handle the rest."

The Jedi turned to the Commander "Take this and make sure it is secured, I wish to study it later."

Wolffe was somewhat reluctant to take the worm but he does so anyways and heads back towards a landed gunship while the two made their way up to the front.

"We're gonna need some help up here!" a clone calls out as he ducks below cover, narrowly missing a burst of plasma.

James reported in "This is SPARTAN-121 on station and ready to assist!" just as he slams his body up against the rampart, sets his anti-materiel rifle on top of the dirt wall and fired his first shot sending the high velocity round tearing through the nearest Sangheili's skull.

One clone emerged from cover in time to see the elite drop with a low groan before looking over his shoulder to see a large black ironclad soldier wielding a large rifle fire his second round, scoring another easy kill.

Another trooper spots the SPARTAN and calls out "The heck is that thing!? A droid!?"

But a third dismisses the question "Who cares it's on our side! Just keep fighting!"

Ahsoka and Plo Koon soon made their way to the rampart, drawing their sabers and begun deflecting incoming bolts, aiding the frontline troopers in their desperate struggle to stay alive against such an aggressive foe. Fortunately for them they had an equally aggressive ally, a SPARTAN. Koon watched as Longarm takes down the larger aliens with his highly lethal slugthrower, each round penentrating the Sangheili's shields and body with devastating effect, and was beginning to become impressed by his marksmanship.

He then notices the SPARTAN was looking at him "Get ready to push forward General!"

One clone however hesitates "Wait what!? You're not serious are you!?"

"Yes I am trooper! Don't worry we have it covered."

Then Plo Koon had to ask "Who is 'we'?" with some concern.

James ducks below the dirt wall and got on his comms, he had to yell over the gunfire and explosions, "Sierra-121 to Vanguard Actual come in over!?"

Percival's voice responded "Loud and clear SPARTAN."

"It's hell down here! What's the ETA on that wombat!?"

"Alpha and Bravo are arriving in the AO now and we're receiving visual."

"Good! We're going to need close air support at our position, danger close! Make sure to target the wraiths!"

"I have a fix on your coordinates, shall I have Jorge be deployed?"

"Only until the skies clear up a bit! There's still a lot of flak going out!"

"Understood."

Longarm signs off and looks over to the Jedi Master "We're going to have support in a minute, get ready to make your push!"

Ahsoka turns and asks "What about you!?"

"What do you mean!? I'm going to be right beside you leading the charge!"

That was when one of the troopers spots in the distance across the fields and calls out "Enemy armor! Point three-five!"

The Jedi and SPARTAN looked to where the clone specified and quickly spots three Covenant tanks approaching in 'V' formation, each one aligning their heavy mortars to their desired firing solutions, until they simultaneously fired a barrage across the field.

The clones began to scatter but Longarm ordered them "Wait! Wait! Keep watching!"

The troopers had no idea what was going on but they did so and carefully watched the three bulbous blobs of plasma soar through the air until they finally got a better picture of where they were going to land, one of Plo Koon's walkers.

"NOW MOVE! Clear the walkers!" the SPARTAN barks.

The troopers sprinted away, some were closer to the walkers than others, just as the three shots slams into the damaged walker, two rounds to the front section while the third impacted the rear, each bolt furiously burned away the durasteel armor before emitting a concussive blast on the inside that gutted the walker from the interior. Ahsoka watched as the AT-TE stumbled, trying to maintain its footing after the devastating hit, but it was becoming futile and it eventually collapsed under its weight crashing down into the ground.

Koon spots Wolffe returning to the front and orders "Commander! Coordinate with the walkers and take out those tanks!"

"You got it Sir!" the commander responded before contacting the remaining walker's gunner "Gunner! Target enemy armor at point three-five, elevation one-one-three!"

The walker's main mass driver cannon swiveled to the designated coordinates, the gunner acquiring a lock on the leading vehicle, and fires the shot, sending a solid projectile round streaming across the open fields until it smashes into the wraith's shields. The size of the round and the high velocity was enough to dismantle the shields and damage the glacis plate heavily, the tank came to a screeching halt before it resumed its advance shortly afterwards.

"Hit 'em again trooper!" Wolffe roars out.

As ordered another round was sent downrange, this time the shot punched through the frontal armor and ripped the insides apart, the plasma drive core became ruptured which engulfed the vehicle in the ensuing explosion.

"Good hit! Next target at point three-seven! Same elevation!"

"I got it Commander!"

On the front, another clone trooper looks to the sky and spots an incoming craft he never recognized "New contact up high! Coming in fast!"

Longarm looks up to see the two F-99 UCAVs flying in, with one following the other, at combat speeds "That's our support!" he turns to Plo Koon "General get ready!"

The two combat drones zipped, ducked, and weaved through the aerial battles, evading fighters and heavy flak, while maintaining the formation until they came within weapons range with their on-board 30mm gatling cannon and Scorpion Air-to-Surface Missiles.

The leading craft zeroed in on one of the remaining two tanks and spun up its seven-barrel rotary cannon and let out a deafening 'BRRRRRRRRRT' as it fired a unholy barrage of armor-piercing incendiary shells into the wraith's weaker side armor, literally ripping it to shreds. The second wombat acquired a lock on the last tank and launched two of its six anti-tank missiles, both rocketed away and impacted the armor in a simultaneous collision that destroyed the hull with raw power.

The clone gunner atop the last standing walker stood up from his seat and looked out to see the two tanks destroyed while the two drones flew away preparing for their next run "Show off!" he yells out.

Longarm watched the two tanks burn before turning to the Jedi "Now's the time General!"

Plo Koon nodded and with a single swing of his blade he orders "Men advance! We're taking the fight to them!"

Commander Wolffe relays the order to their walker "AT-TE 592 begin your advance!"

On order the six-legged walker began its slow march firing its forward facing blaster cannons and mass-driver while the troopers on the ground vaulted over the plasma charred rampart following their Jedi general alongside their unexpected help and begin their push on the Covenant.

The Republic forces slowly gained more ground with each step they took as they fought and died, the smaller aliens begun to panic and retreat from their heavy losses while the larger species of soldiers fought back, holding their ground with the aid of shield gauntlets and rapid-fire plasma weapons. Covenant and clones fell one after another, some riddled with blaster bolts while others had scorched armor and needles lodged in them, but each side continued to fight for their reasons.

Ahsoka and Plo Koon stood side by side deflecting incoming bolts of plasma while Force deflecting high velocity needles until young Tano catches sight of a Sangheili hurling a blue pulsating orb that latched itself onto the chest plate of a trooper, the clone grabs it and tries to get it off yelling "I CAN'T GET IT O—" before being engulfed and vaporized by the following explosion.

Plo Koon states "We're taking heavy losses! We must fall back!"

But the SPARTAN was closing the gap, he was the last to vault the rampart and provided long range support with his rifle, and arrived next to the Jedi "No! We've got to keep pushing!" he takes aim and fires another round into a Kig-Yar before tapping onto his comms "Vanguard Actual this is Sierra-121, we need 052 down here now!"

"Acknowledged SPARTAN" the AI responded "Sierra-052 is disembarking the _Vanguard _as we speak. Alpha and Bravo were forced out of the AO by a couple of bandits but should be returning any moment to resume support runs.

Longarm looks up to the skies and quickly spots the two drones closing in on their location "I see them! I'm also running low on ammunition, I need you to launch ordnance pod three zero eight on my position!"

"Confirmed, ordnance pod has been launched, ETA thirty seconds."

"Appreciate it!" he states before signing off and place another round into an approaching Sangheili.

"I admire your spirit Longarm but we must face reality that this is a losing battle!" Koon states as he begins holding his ground.

"Not for long! We got luck on our side!"

"I never believed in luck!"

James slaps his empty rifle onto his back "Well lucky for you, we SPARTANs make our own luck!" and charges ahead of the force right into the covenant swarm.

"What is your friend doing?" he asks to Tano.

"Oh well . . . he's simply setting an example. Don't worry he does this a lot."

Longarm makes first contact with the enemy, cocking his right arm back before shooting it out like a bullet against a jackal's lower jaw breaking it and its neck thus killing it, before he draws his combat knife and electrostaff into his hands. Without much effort he tosses his staff into the air and catches it, holding it like a javelin, before he threw it with all his might sending it spiraling through the air at impressive speeds before it punctures a surprised Sangheili through the chest. With his combat knife at hand he closes the distance between him and an elite ultra, signified by their pure white armor, just as the Sangheili spots him and readies its energy sword.

The two got within striking range just as the ultra makes a right uppercut with his blade but Longarm sidesteps to his right, avoiding the blade entirely, and deliver a quick jab with his left fist impacting the elite's abdomen with heavy force. The alien dropped his sword and placed his two hands over his gut before falling to a knee, however he was able to recover and throw right hook towards the SPARTAN's helmet. A clone in the midst of the fighting watches the seven foot soldier duck under the swinging fist and grab the Sangheili's right arm with his own arm before throwing him over his body in a duckunder takedown, once the elite slammed its back on the ground James readied his knife and drove it into his opponent's throat.

The clone was taken by surprise muttering "That's amazing . . ."

Meanwhile Ahsoka and Plo Koon were steadily pushing the advance, now made possible by the return of the wombats and their fire support in combination with the AT-TE walker marching behind them, as they effectively took down any covenant that were to come within range of their sabers. However it was then when three elites, all adorned in smooth organic-styled maroon armor and armed with a sword of their own, charged the two Jedi with zealous resolve. Two of the zealots targeted Plo Koon while the third engaged young Tano, effectively separating the Jedi from each other.

The zealot attacking the togruta makes a swipe for her waist but she skips backwards to avoid the blade, however the Sangheili recovers from the miss and comes back around with his sword in full swing. Ahsoka quickly threw her two sabers up in front of her letting the energy sword to clash releasing a surge of electricity in every direction as the two were forced into a lock. The zealot's strength was greater than that of Tano's as he began to press down on her, forcing her knees to bend under the force, until the Sangheili backs away and sends a powerful kick into her gut knocking her onto the ground with her sabers out of reach.

The zealot was giving Tano no chance to recover her lightsabers as she stood up when he swings to decapitate her, fortunately she was able to duck below the blade before throwing her left fist up against the elite's elbow joint, forcing the Sangheili to drop his sword after a shock of pain shot through his arm, and finished it up with a high roundhouse kick sending her right foot slamming into the underside of his mouth, shattering the already weakened shields from the battle around them, and breaking a mandible.

The zealot staggered back a couple of feet before giving out an enraged roar, three of the four mandibles spread wide, and charged the togruta, fiercely tackling her to the ground. Ahsoka's back was pressed against the dirt while the elite was on top of her raising a right fist before bringing it down to her face, she quickly moves her head out of the way before throwing up her arms to block the left fist that followed shortly after. She then shot her right arm out like a rocket impacting the side of the alien's face which caused him to let out a snarl at her. The elite then used his right hand and forcibly grabbed her left arm, pinning it to the ground, and wrapped his left hand around her neck tightening his grip.

The Sangheili growled with a low ominous tone "You dare side yourself with the demons and defy us? You will suffer for your sins . . ."

His grip was now crushing her neck, she struggled to breath as she reached for her thigh with her right free hand and grabbed a hold of what she was looking for, and in an instant a loud crack of gunfire echoed from somewhere between the two. The zealot grunted for a brief moment before shot after shot was fired into him, Ahsoka had taken her M6C Magnum and pressed it against his exposed stomach area, all twelve rounds had entered his body tearing away at the flesh and bone.

Tano kept pulling the trigger but all she heard were weak 'clicks' as the elite on top of her gasped and groaned before drawing his last breath and fall on top of her, his dead weight holding her down on the ground while Plo Koon dispatches the two zealots in a series of cuts and swipes. This was possibly the first time she ever had a dead body laid across her own, the zealot's motionless head and limp mandibles were right next to her letting her hear everything slowly shut down in his body. This was a new feeling of nausea for her and she wanted to get away as soon as possible.

With the last two zealots dead Master Plo Koon rushes to her aid as fast as possible and rolls the dead corpse off of her, she quickly sits up to find herself covered in purple blood, "Ahsoka are you alright!?" the Kel Dor asks with a alarmed tone resting his hand on her shoulder.

She took a moment to respond "Yeah . . . I just . . . need a moment."

At that time her ears began to pick up the faint but familiar roar of a pelican's thruster pylons, she looks up to see the green bird-like dropship approach and come to a slow hover over their position. Soon the rear troopbay doors swung open and the heavy machine gun wielding armored giant leaps out from inside, the pelican soon closed the hatch and takes off.

Jorge came crashing down into the dirt before hurrying to the two Jedi, he falls to a knee setting aside his weapon and asks "Ma'am are you alright?"

Tano was silent prompting Plo to say "I suggest you go help your friend. I will watch her."

The SPARTAN gave a confident nod before grabbing his weapon and head off after Longarm.

Several hundred feet away, the dark SPARTAN-ll had already laid waste to a number of covenant, his ordnance pod had arrived during the time the zealots attacked the Jedi and provided him his DC-15s carbine and a MA37 Assault Rifle with spare magazines. He was keeping his shoulder leaned against the butt of the rifle as he effortlessly tracked his targets and fired short accurate bursts of automatic fire that normally found their mark.

The clones were even beginning to pick up the momentum behind the SPARTAN, keeping their shots tight and the trigger finger quick, while the wombats continued performing strafing runs and the AT-TE walker continued laying down heavy fire.

"Keep the pressure on!" Wolffe yells out as he fires the killing shot into an unshielded Kig-Yar.

James glances down at his motion tracker, multiple red contacts ahead of him while the grey blips around him indicated the clones and a friendly contact hurriedly bringing up the rear.

He looks over his shoulder to see that unmistakable hulking figure with a heavy machine gun coming next to him before facing forward and fire off another burst "Glad you can join us Jorge."

He asks rhetorically "I'm not late am I?"

Longarm gives a small chuckle before asking "Where's Ahsoka and the general?"

"They're back there and still breathing, though I think she's gotten a little shaken up after dealing with a zealot."

"She's a tough girl, she'll pull through soon enough."

"I hope you're right."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	26. The push

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 26**

**"****The push"**

[Grasslands, Ukio]

The battle between the Covenant Empire and the Galactic Republic continued to rage on, both sides suffering immense losses but continued to spill blood for duty and beliefs. In the midst of the carnage SPARTAN James and Jorge, along with the remnants of Wolfpack, continued making their hard push against the Covenant but due to the high loss of men they were beginning to grind to a halt. The only thing that was keeping the aliens from simply charging the men were the two Wombat UCAVs providing danger close air support and the AT-TE walker that was drawing most of the enemy's fire.

A plasma-based explosion violently close to James, throwing dirt high into the air and making the SPARTAN flinch for a brief moment, before he turns half way towards the withering clones yelling "We're almost there! Keep pushing!"

But the clones were becoming exhausted, they tried to keep fighting but fatigue was beginning to set in affecting their aim and stamina, and was starting to become forced into a halt.

"What's going on!? What happened to our momentum?!" Longarm calls out as he too stops and continues to engage the enemy.

Commander Wolffe rushes up to the two SPARTANs reporting "My men are becoming exhausted and we're severely depleted. We can't push any further."

"What!?

"We have to go on the defensive now! If we keep pushing then we'll never make it!"

Jorge sprays out a brief heavy volley of high caliber rounds into the enemy around them before turning his head to his close friend "The commander has a point, they're not SPARTANs. They have to get their rest."

Longarm sighed to himself before giving out the order "Alright all units halt and dig in. Jorge and I will keep you covered until you're ready."

"Yes Sir!" Wolffe responded before relaying the order to his men "Alright men, dig in and hold this position!"

The clones acknowledged the order, some putting their weapons now to bring out their entrenching tools to start building up defenses while others continued to fight the enemy in order to keep them at bay. The walker came to a full stop with all of its forward facing cannons firing away supporting the troopers on the ground.

Inside the AT-TE's rear compartment, Plo Koon was tending to Ahsoka who was steadily recovering from her moment with the Sangheili zealot. From inside they could hear the fighting outside and the occasional bolt of plasma or shard of needle impact against the walker's durasteel hull.

The Jedi Master was wiping away the dirt and filth from Ahsoka's face with a wet rag, that was when she finally spoke after a long period of silence "How are James and Jorge doing outside?"

"They are performing admirably; it wouldn't surprise me if some of the men begin to see them as an invaluable ally."

"Then why did we stop?"

Plo Koon stopped for the moment and took that into consideration "Hmm . . . a good question."

He brings up the comlink on his arm and presses down on a small switch on the side "Commander Wolffe, what is your status?"

The clone's voice came through mixed in with heavy fighting in the background "We're digging and holding our position General! The men are exhausted and need their rest!"

"Understood, what about our new friends?"

"They're giving the enemy a real beating! I've never seen anything like them before, where did Ahsoka find these guys?"

"That is something I'm about to find out. Contact me if the situation worsens."

"Of course General!" Wolffe responded just before the transmission ended.

The Kel Dor then turned back to Ahsoka, who was looking up at him with a concerned look in her eyes, and asks "Little Soka, I'd like to hear about your new friends . . ."

Back outside, James unloads another burst of rounds into an unshielded jackal from his MA37 as the clones behind him hastily construct another rampart like the one before, this time in the shape of a horseshoe, while Jorge stood atop of a dirt mound laying down a line of unending bullets upon the enemy.

The dark SPARTAN-ll Commando was down to his last magazine when a Sangheili major, adorned in their usual red combat harnesses, charges him with sword in hand. James unloads the remaining thirteen rounds into the elite, depleting his shields, before tossing the rifle at him, the Sangheili with one swipe slices the rifle in two and lunges at the super soldier with the intent to impale his chest. However James ducks below the blade, passing the elite, and drew his DC-15S carbine before placing two bolts in the elite's unshielded back thus killing it.

The Covenant were beginning to put pressure on the troopers, their numbers increasing as well as the intensity of the fighting, this prompted a trooper to yell out "Where do they keep coming from!?"

That was the same question that lingered in the SPARTANs' mind, Longarm decides to fall back behind a partially built dirt wall and contact the destroyer "Sierra-121 to Vanguard Actual over!?"

"Acknowledged SPARTAN I read you" Percival's voice responded.

"I need one of the drones to get above this mess and scan for Covenant activity! Find out where they're getting their reinforcements!"

"Confirmed, I will have reports soon."

James signs off just in time to see the two combat drones perform another strafing run, firing their 30mm gatling guns with the loud and horrifying 'BRRRRRRRRRT' eviscerating the Covenant foot soldiers just before gaining altitude above the ground, after their run was completed one of the drones broke formation and headed for the skies.

He appears out from behind his cover and began engaging the enemy with his blaster, sending blue bolts of energized plasma back at them in accurate bursts. He was fortunate to have stolen this from the Coruscant guard back shortly after meeting Ahsoka for the first time, the reason was is because this weapon was much more effective in bringing down energy shields than traditional UNSC small arms that were loaded with metallic armor piercing rounds. This effectiveness was proven when he fired three bolts into a cautious Sangheili, staying back at a distance and firing his plasma rifle, that destroyed the shields and the fourth shot scoring a killing head shot.

The defenses were now partially built, nothing more than a line of scattered mounds that formed a 'U' shape in front of the walker, the clones crouched behind their mounds and laid flat out on their stomachs on the open ground holding the Covenant back to the best of their ability. But with each passing minute a trooper falls, the seemingly unending onslaught of genocidal aliens continue to press on the dwindling Republic forces. Fortunately this did not affect the SPARTANs' morale, fighting harder than ever not for themselves but now fighting to keep these men alive, they were all in the same boat now so they had to work for a common goal, survival.

Whenever a clone falls down behind cover, saving themselves from incoming fire, they seem to always look at that two hulking soldiers that never found cover for themselves, instead they embraced the flurry of plasma and needles with their personal energy shielding flaring orange whenever they took a hit. James was quick and precise, making every shot he had count, effortlessly putting down hostiles with pinpoint accuracy. On the other hand, Jorge was virtually unstoppable laying waste to a number of targets with a single sweep of heavy fire from his HMG. The two were becoming an inspiration and a major morale boost for the men, if two soldiers can hold off an entire enemy advance then surely they could do the same.

Wolffe saw this newfound courage in his men and eventually he too began to pick his spirit back up from the ground. The Covenant were playing fierce now, but the Republic was far from giving up.

Percival finally came back to James through his helmet "Sierra-121 this is Vanguard Actual do you copy?"

The SPARTAN puts another burst of fire into a jackal before responding "Yeah Actual, I read you!"

"Bravo has completed a full analysis of the situation; I have good news and bad news."

"Okay what's the good news!?"

"The good news is: The Republic has deployed another battalion to reinforce the troops you are with now, they're coming onto the field as we speak, and the Covenant has been routed."

"That's great Percival, what's the bad news!?"

"It turns out that the Covenant were not gaining reinforcements at all, instead they've concentrated their remaining efforts to halt the Republic advances on several fronts, yours being the highest priority on their list."

"The Covenant are going on the defense!? That doesn't seem like them at all! " he claims before firing off another burst "What about that corvette, have you found that yet!?"

"Negative, I can't pick up any major Covenant signatures in the quadrant. I can only assume that the vessel had gone back to slipspace or it is utilizing a form of stealth technology."

This was starting to feel wrong, the Covenant has gone on the defensive desperately trying to stop the Republic's advance for some reason, and now the corvette has gone missing.

It was only a second later when he put the two occurrences together "They're defending the corvette that has to be close by! Get the _Vanguard_ to this position ASAP, we can't afford to let it get away again!"

"Acknowledged, diverting power to the engines and setting course forthwith."

The transmission ends allowing the SPARTAN to turn his focus back to the battle with a new objective in his mind, keep these men alive as long as possible until their reinforcements arrive.

He quickly trains his sights on a rushing Sangheili minor eager for his first kill of the day and places two bolts into the shields followed up with two more to the exposed chest, killing it swiftly. Jorge continued to lay down heavy fire on the enemy while Commander Wolffe holsters his two blaster pistols and picks up a discarded Covenant carbine, quickly examining the weapon, before taking aim at a confident unggoy and send a 8mm caseless radioactive projectile straight into the alien's cranium. The other clones were also beginning to take up Covenant arms, seeing that their tibanna gas-based weaponry were either running out of charges or were reserving them for later. One clone in particular was suddenly attacked by a Sangheili that had leapt over his part of the wall, the trooper had immediately began spraying fire onto the elite, riddling its body with blaster marks, and soon picked up its weapon before firing back at the enemy.

But despite how hard the Republic fought, no matter how many Covenant they had killed, they too were beginning to wear down. For every ten or so covenant that had fallen, a clone would too be a victim to the chaos. James had already gunned down a lance of grunts when a blue bolt of plasma struck him in his left shoulder, dismantling the rest of his shields and leaving his armor exposed to incoming fire, but he didn't let that hinder his ability to fight, further showing the clones the durability of a second generation SPARTAN.

Commander Wolffe had just fired his last round from the carbine he found before tossing it aside, drawing his trustful dual pistols, and quickly spot another platoon of troopers from the 104th, supported by two AT-TE walkers, several hundred meters away to their left.

"We have reinforcements! Far left!" he calls out.

One clone pokes his head above the wall he hid behind and spots the advancing unit "They're really giving those freaks a beating!"

But the moment of hope was immediately dashed away when a burst of three large hypervelocity plasma rounds struck the platoon and the walkers, utterly destroying them entirely leaving very few survivors, the men were thrown and the walkers were torn apart like a lightsaber going through plastoid plating.

A clone ducks below his cover, an instinctive reflex to save one's self, before coming out of cover again to see the destructive results "The hell was that!?"

Jorge quickly answered that question when he looked up far ahead of them "Tyrant! Up on the ridge, klick and a half out!"

James falls to a knee and holsters his blaster carbine in exchange for the sniper rifle slung around his shoulder, he brings his scope up to his visor and spots the massive Type-38 'Tyrant' Anti-Air gun emplacement upon the ridge Jorge specified "I have visual, Commander Wolffe coordinate with the gunner and target that cannon!"

"On it!" Wolffe responded before contacting the walker's gunner "Gunner, target that gun emplacement at point five eight! Elevation three three seven!"

The mass driver corrected its aim on the specified target, the gunner could see the towering cannon through the turret's display, and fires a single shell sending the projectile screaming across the plains until it slammed squarely with the tyrant's base foundation. The gun, unfortunately, did not collapse from the heavy hit and instead caught the gunnery crew's attention, directing the heavy cannon onto them.

The gunner cried out "It didn't work!"

But Longarm orders the clone "The gun has a fusion core in the base, fire again!"

The clone does as he is told and fires another shell, this time once the round impacted the solid nano-laminate plating it punched through the armor and struck the core chamber, rupturing the pinch fusion reactor inside the core and caused the gun to malfunction as indicated by the multiple smaller explosions racking the outside before being followed with a massive bright blue fireball that leveled the emplacement and those around it.

"Good hit trooper!" the SPARTAN calls out before retrieving his blaster and resume fighting.

However just as he began to fire away at the vengeful Covenant horde they began to fall back, some were faster than others, while a few remained for one last desperate attempt to kill the hunkered down troops.

"Why're they running!? I was just starting to have fun!" a clone bellows out, brandishing his Z-6 rotary cannon.

Longarm looks to the air behind their positon and points out "Because of that."

One by one the troopers turned around looking up to the skies to see the dark arrowhead shaped Halberd-Class Destroyer _Vanguard _accompanied by two Acclamator-ll Assault Ships that were just arriving from high orbit. Not long after that a wing of LAAT gunships closed in on their positon and came to a gentle landing, releasing platoons of troopers adorned in their Phase-ll armor with orange markings, signifying their accordance to the 212th.

However the brief moment of relief did not last when the Covenant launched its last dire attempt to stave off the Republic, a select zealous set of troops remained firing their weapons at the incoming clones. The SPARTANs and Wolfpack returned fire inciting another intense firefight.

James kneels down behind his section of the rampart and resumes firing when a familiar voice called out to him from behind "Longarm!? We should stop meeting like this friend!"

The SPARTAN-ll looked over his right shoulder to see Jedi General Obi-wan Kenobi coming to his side with lightsaber in hand, he then turned his focus back on the enemy and continued firing "Likewise Master Kenobi!"

Kenobi takes a glance at Jorge, who stood atop a small mound laying down fire with his M247H machine gun, and asks "Friend of yours!?"

"More like a brother!" James replies.

The Jedi begins to deflect incoming bolts of plasma when he had to ask "Where's Ahsoka!?"

The Covenant were now in full retreat, the stragglers have been killed off and the clones began to celebrate their hard fought victory, James stands up answering "She's in the walker, she's fine but she got a little shook up from earlier."

"If I know Ahsoka, she'll pull through" Kenobi reassures the SPARTAN.

"My thought exactly."

"And it would seem we got here just when the fun was over."

"Maybe next time General" Longarm comments as he holsters his weapon.

But then almost immediately afterwards a heavy voice spoke out "That is unlikely."

Longarm, Kenobi, and all of the others looks forward to see a team of five Sangheili warriors in night black armor appear out of thin air, each one of them armed with a different weapon save for three who were wielding a hilt that utilized twin blood red blades glowing with concentrated energy.

Kenobi readies his saber while the clones took aim, but the leading elite raises a calm hand and assures them "Stow your weapons filth, our quarrel is with the demon instead."

Obi-wan lowers his blade, curious about what the warrior said "Demon?"

James however knew who he was referring to "He meant Jorge and I."

"That is correct human" the Sangheili states.

The SPARTAN then turns his attention to the elite "I didn't get a name."

The elite snorted as if it was amused "Traditionally I would say that you're not worthy of hearing my name, but we all know that the circumstances has changed drastically. I am Shev 'Vadamee, once humble servant of the Vadam Keep."

Longarm took notes of their appearance, their black armor, near perfect stealth technology, red energy blades, and states "You're with the Inquisition."

"Good eye human, I am also sure you are aware why we are here standing before you."

The SPARTAN began putting his weapons gently on the ground, starting with his sniper rifle, "Well obviously you're here for us SPARTANs, you could care less for the Jedi and the clones."

"Hmph, you are perceptive I will grant you that, but you are short one detail. We have come for you and the one you called a 'Jedi'."

"What's he to you?" James asks.

"His powers, they are unlike anything we have seen in our past decades of conflict. The hierarchs would be pleased to acquire a perfect specimen such as him for study."

"Yeah I'm still wrapping my head around that as well. Fortunately I don't need the Force to kick your sorry asses."

The Sangheili chuckled "Is that a challenge? I was afraid you would comply with our requests and make this moment dull. It is good to know you demons still make things entertaining . . ."

"Right then" James responds as he draws his electrostaff "One SPARTAN against five Sangheili inquisitors, who wants to pray to their gods first?"

The leader studied the SPARTAN carefully, planning out every possible action and scenario, then with a swift wave of his sword and the other two sword wielding sangheili inquisitors leaped into action sprinting towards the super soldier with blades ready. James remained still, letting the enemy come to him, before swatting one of them down to the ground with a single swipe of his staff. The second Sangheili came within striking range, lashing out with his energy sword, but the SPARTAN-ll's augmented reflexes effortlessly kicked in forcing the super soldier to duck below the blade, letting the elite pass with a miss, before coming back up with the staff twirling in hands and jab one of the electrocuting prods into the inquisitor's back, dismantling the shields entirely and temporarily numbing the elite's nervous system. The first elite was suddenly back up in action with a swift uppercut but James skips aside from the attack and swings his staff where it caught the alien by the back of his legs, swiping the legs from under him and caused him to crash back down onto the ground.

The Sangheili that was electrocuted, now driven by rage, lunges at the SPARTAN roaring out with its mandibles spread wide "RAAAAGH!"

However Longarm remained calm and collected, using the staff's firm weight to propel it around his body in a series of twists and twirls before striking the elite from underneath his head, breaking two of his mandibles, and follows it up with a heavy roundhouse kick to his opponent's gut knocking him flat out onto the ground.

"Longarm seems to be holding well" Kenobi remarks, impressed by the SPARTAN's ability to stave off two armed swordsmen.

"Oh. You haven't seen anything yet, just wait till the other split-jaws join the fun" Jorge comments.

It was then when Master Plo Koon and the weary Ahsoka Tano appeared behind the Jedi and SPARTAN, with the Kel Dor asking "Master Kenobi it's been a while. What have we missed?"

"Oh not much."

James effortlessly trips the attacking Sangheili before quickly sending another jab into the elite's back, releasing another jolt of electricity through his body, and finish his life with a quick blaster shot to the back of his head killing him instantly.

That forced the other elite to roar out "Brother!" before lashing out with his sword only for his blade to be deflected by the staff, made out of the lightsaber resistant material called phrik, and felt the cold steel of a gun barrel shoved underneath between his mandibles.

The elite stuttered just before the SPARTAN pulled the trigger, sending the bolt tearing its way through the inquisitor's head before he fell to the ground dead. James then turns his attention to the remaining three Sangheili, all watching him with steady eyes, and noted what they were armed with. The Inquisitor commander was obviously worthy of carrying a sword of his own, however the elite to his left had a Type-51 Carbine trained on him, and the other held the hefty Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon over his shoulder, commonly referred by the UNSC as the Fuel Rod Cannon. That SPARTAN then stuck one end of his staff in the ground and stared back at the commander, waiting for a response.

"Impressive human, but your skills won't save you forever" the elite spoke, confident in what he has in mind.

"Thanks, it doesn't take much to put you guys down nowadays."

"You will not be so confident when we carve out your flesh with our blades" the inquisitor retorts.

The SPARTAN then shifted his left foot, etching near a discarded plasma pistol dropped from a fallen Kig-Yar, and immediately kicks up the pistol into his left hand and draws it on the elites "I call your bluff."

The commander chuckles "We shall see. . ." before deactivating his hot red sword and fade away into the scene.

James stood ready, carefully scanning the area around him wishing his Mk. V MJOLNIR armor had come with its own VISR upgrade, until he spots a sudden kick up in dirt just seconds before the two blood red blades erected out of nowhere in full swing. The SPARTAN-ll leans back letting the blade to swing by harmlessly before throwing a hard right uppercut that immediately slammed into something hard resulting in the struck commander to let out a grunt in pain before retreating back to a certain distance to strike again.

The super soldier remained vigilant this time scanning every little detail of the scenery around him, fire over there, a crater there, a corpse here and there, a blown up tank over yonder, until his eyes caught movement to his left. He shifted his attention and caught the slight movement that was prowling like a shark, he knew it was Shev. He immediately raises his plasma pistol, now charging up for a high-powered blast, and fires the large green bulbous bolt of plasma downrange, 'Vadamee attempts to dodge the discharge but it strikes him across the chest emitting a wide burst of electromagnetic energy that caused his active-camouflage and energy shielding to fail rapidly leaving him open for attack. The human then tossed the depleted pistol aside in favor of his DC-15S carbine and fires two bolts, each slamming into the inquisitor's chest leaving scorched blast marks against the armor.

That was when Vadamee barked his ordered to his compatriots "Take him!"

The two other inquisitors sprang into action with tag-team efficiency, the cannon wielding elite takes aim and fires sending a 38mm radioactive shell at relatively high speeds giving the SPARTAN only mere seconds to leap out of the way before it impacted the ground beneath his feet and detonate. He was successful in evading the shell but his body was caught in the resulting blast, draining his shields severely while it knocked him to the ground, and when he steadily got back to his feet he received a high velocity 8mm radioactive projectile to the back from the Sangheili carabineer, the round shattered what was left of his shields and nearly penetrated the titanium alloy plating but was stopped just short of his bodysuit. And to finish the coordinated attack, Shev appears out of thin air once more, after a moment of recuperation from the debilitating plasma discharge his suit had taken, in front of Longarm with his blade ready, he drives his sword in a skyward uppercut, giving the SPARTAN a split second to counter act his uneven balance from the inquisitors' attack and back away, and slashes the frontal chest piece and bodysuit open, the tip of the blade grazed James's actual skin leaving a long scorched mark at the center of his chest.

Tano immediately takes a step forward, reaching for her lightsabers, but Plo Koon places his hand out in front of her stopping her from interfering "Master what're you doing!?" she demands.

"This is not your fight Ahsoka."

"But he needs me now! I can help him!"

Jorge gladly agrees "She's right, I'm not about to sit around on my arse when my friend is getting tag-teamed."

At that moment the towering SPARTAN-ll and togruta enters the fray with sabers and heavy machine guns in hand, engaging the two armed inquisitors while James continued to fight 'Vadamee.

Longarm holsters his carbine and runs his left hand across his slashed chest, feeling the deep gouge in his now compromised MJOLNIR armor, before setting his sights back on Shev just as he chuckled "I have drawn first blood human, you are now at a disadvantage without your precious combat armor."

"I won't need it to tear you a new one" the SPARTAN replies harshly as he attaches his shortened staff to his left shoulder pauldron in exchange for his energy sword.

At that instant the two warriors charged towards one another until both blades clashed violently with one another, bolts of electricity lashing out in every direction, just before Longarm threw a heavy left uppercut into the Sangheili's abdomen forcing him to disengage with half his breath.

Shev quickly glances over to his left to see his last remaining men be cut down by heavy fire and swift blades, he was alone now, and he knew this became a lost battle. Taking common human logic, after having fought them for so many years, he sees no valid point to remain behind and get himself killed in a vainglorious fashion.

"Well humans, it would appear the day is yours" the Sangheili congratulated them "But I would savor every last moment of this time before it is dashed away. I can feel the tension in the air . . . things are about to happen that none of us will be prepared for. Your imminent demise by my sword."

"I suppose you'll have to wait another day then . . ."

Vadamee openly agrees "So it would seem. Take joy in today, for the next time we meet, I will have your head" before he fades back into the scenery.

Not seconds later did the group suddenly hear the loud distant roaring of massive engines being primed for launch from beyond the far away ridge line, Percival swiftly contacts both SPARTANs via their helmets "Sierra 121 and 052 be advised, I'm detecting a large pulse drive signature ahead, it matches that to the Covenant corvette."

At that moment everyone looked ahead to see the nine hundred fifty six meter long SDV-class Heavy Corvette lift itself from the ground, appearing out of what seemed to be a ship-wide active camouflage system, and activate its four repulsor engines making its speedy ascent for orbit.

Longarm didn't hesitate to give the order "Vanguard Actual you are clear to engage! Target that corvette!"

"Acknowledged SPARTAN, MAC cannons have been charged and ready. Acquiring lock . . . Warning slipspace anomaly detected . . ."

The ground troops watched silently as the corvette rips a portal in the bright blue skies and pass through just as the rupture closes itself, signifying the _Ardent Prayer's_ second successful escape from the _Vanguard_.

"Dammit!" James curses before asking "How the hell was that corvette camouflaged!? They don't even carry the equipment to do so!"

Percival already had an answer to that "While I was lining up the MAC for firing sequence, I've scanned the landing zone where the corvette once resided in and detected several external stealth pylons that emitted a scramble frequency that interferes with local sensors. I couldn't have detected the vessel until it was too late."

The SPARTAN growled "Grr destroy those pylons and everything around it, I don't want that corvette coming here again for as long as it takes."

But Kenobi interferes "How about you leave those pylons to us, we'll be sure to put them out of commission and set the surrounding sectors on the lookout for that ship."

"You sure Master Jedi? The place is bound to be guarded by whoever's left behind."

I'm sure Longarm, you and your friends have seen enough action today. You all deserve a well-earned rest."

As much as James wanted to see every covenant bastard die today, he knew Kenobi was a capable man as well as his men of the 212th, "Yeah fine . . . just be careful."

"Will do."

As Obi-wan heads out Jorge, Ahsoka, Plo Koon, and Commander Wolffe gathered around the damaged SPARTAN with the Jedi general congratulating them "Well done SPARTANs . . . you have proven yourselves to be very capable warriors."

Jorge and James immediately glanced at one another through their helmets before turning their eyes back on the Kel Dor with James asking "Wait. You know what we are?"

"Of course. Little Soka has told me everything about you."

The two then shifted their spiteful stares at Ahsoka, who gave a sheepish smile in return just before Plo Koon states "It's highly unusual to find a pair of Mandalorians willing to go through life altering augmentations just to improve themselves in combat. You must be very dedicated to your lifestyle."

The SPARTANs were caught off guard once more, now feeling like jerks for giving little Ahsoka their scornful looks, before Jorge replies "Well . . . it was what we were meant for."

"Indeed . . . now if you'll excuse me, Wolffe and I must tend to our men. Today has taken a drastic toll on them."

James nods to that "Of course" but just as the Jedi and clone were beginning to venture away the SPARTAN asks "Wait a moment . . . mind telling me what your battalion was doing here? Before you engaged the Covenant?"

The Kel Dor kindly asks "We were on our way to Cato Nemoidia to perform post-battle patrols when our admiral picked up a distress signal from Ukio's surface. Once we arrived this morning we were immediately attacked by these things."

"Thank you General, that's all I wanted to know."

The Jedi nods "Of course" before turning to Ahsoka "Farewell Little Soka, till we meet again."

"Goodbye Master Plo" Tano replied as she waved to him.

With Plo Koon now gone out of the picture, James turns to her and asks "How you doing?"

"I'll be fine I guess . . ." she shrugs.

He rests his hand on her shoulder "It's alright, I guess all you need is a warm shower. Helps wash the day away."

She gives a smirk "Speak for yourself you look like a wreck."

"Funny" he retorts.

At that moment, the Pelican dropship comes to a soft landing allowing the trio to gather their equipment and climb aboard.

James takes the controls and begins heading back through the fields from where they came, Ahsoka asks "Where we going?"

"We gotta grab those walkers don't we? Those were a gift to us from the locals remember?"

Tano had a warm grin across her face, during the heavy fighting and her hard moment with the dead zealot made her forget about the two AT-RTs that they left behind near the beginning of the battle.

[Two hours later, high orbit, _UNSC Vanguard_]

The two SPARTANs stood aboard the destroyer's bridge looking over the holotable projecting a hologram of the planet they were over, trying to decipher where the _Ardent Prayer_ had jumped to next.

"Did you at least get an idea on where they may be heading?" Longarm asks, still in his damaged armor.

"I'm sorry, the only reason we were able to follow them here was the fact that we utilized the same entry vector they took moments prior to our jump. By the time you came back aboard, they were far gone."

"Dammit" he cursed under his breath.

But Jorge saw this somewhat differently "Maybe it's a good thing."

Both James and Percival's avatar looked up to him, the SPARTAN asks "How is that a good thing?"

"Think about it, if we keep chasing that corvette, sooner or later it's going to make a jump straight for their supercarrier. If we even bothered to keep on it then we might as well be dead."

Percival sides with the big man "Jorge has a point . . ."

But James sighs "Yeah I know he does . . . but it also means leaving people to fend for themselves, just like the farmers did before we arrived."

Jorge tries to reassure his close friend "It's a tough choice everyone has to make. If we just throw away the ship and our lives to that carrier, then those people will have no one at all to protect them."

At that moment the door hisses open and Ahsoka steps aboard the bridge, all cleaned up from her shower, "Hey guys, what I miss?"

The two SPARTANs and the AI gave each other solemn looks before everyone turned to James, seeing that he was the leading commander of the ship and that he had to make the calls, he states "We're not going to pursue the corvette any more . . ."

"Wait you're serious right?"

"To be honest Ahsoka I wish I was the galaxy's greatest liar at this moment, but I'm serious yes."

"But what about the people the Covenant could be attacking next!? Those farmers barely held on because of us!"

"Don't you think I already know that? Jorge and Percival already convinced me that if we keep chasing that ship then we'll end up saying hello to that damn supercarrier, and it doesn't matter if it's part of a carrier- we'll all be dead in matter of seconds."

Ahsoka fell silent, she wanted to argue more but there was no point, James had made up his mind and with very good reasons.

It was time to change the subject "So . . . what do we do now?"

Everyone then started to look at one another, each had a face full of uncertainty not knowing anything else, for the first time since the SPARTANs' first arrival in this galaxy they have no idea what to do next.

"Well . . ." James begins "We could plot a course for open space, get our bearings and rest awhile. It's something we've needed for a month now."

Percival adds to the idea "Sounds like a good idea, plus it'll give me time to find a proper connection to the Holonet I've discovered recently."

"Wait" Tano stops him "You _just_ discovered the Holonet? What happened to being an advanced AI?"

"Don't mock me young lady. The reason behind it is because obviously UNSC transmission frequencies don't interact with standard Republic communications networks. I've only managed to tap that network because I was experimenting the _Vanguard's_ comms array a while back hoping to find something. Which I did."

She then turns to James "What about you? Are you going to try and repair that armor?"

"No chance, this will take ages to repair with the materials that may be non-existent in the galaxy. But if there is a small sliver of hope that this armor will be brought back to optimum capacity, Percival will know."

"Then what're you going to do? Do you have an extra suit lying around somewhere?"

Longarm took a moment to think, nothing came up at the top of his head until he remembered something "As a matter of fact. I do."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	27. Downgrade

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 27**

**"****Downgrade"**

[Slipstream Space, _UNSC Vanguard_, S-Deck]

During the _Vanguard's _jump to open space away from Ukio, Ahsoka and James were making their way down to S-Deck while Jorge headed off to the cafeteria to eat. The walk was silent for the two, they've been getting more peace and quiet with each passing step, the togruta was light and virtually silent while the SPARTAN's footsteps came down with heavy metallic thuds.

It wasn't long before Tano broke the silence "What was life like becoming a SPARTAN?"

Longarm shares a glance with her before answering "It wasn't the easiest time of my life I'll be honest. Seventy five of us were called to become the protectors of Earth and all her colonies, or so Doctor Halsey would say it."

"Doctor Halsey? Who's that?" she asks.

"Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey was the mastermind behind the SPARTAN-ll Project and the MJOLNIR Program; many would say she's the smartest human to ever live in history. She's the person that made us who we are today."

"A band of super soldiers meant to help humanity survive the Covenant?"

"Not exactly, the SPARTANs were originally created to deal with human insurrections on outer colony worlds on the brim of human space. The cost for an all-out conventional war would be too much even for the UNSC, we were the next best thing. By the time we made first contact with the Covenant over a colony world called Harvest we hit them with everything we had, troops, ships, even parts of our nuclear arsenal but they were just too advanced and too many. We were the last line of defense. We were practically unbeatable, immortal in the eyes of our enemies. We were branded as demons to the Covenant while humanity saw us as their last guardians standing between them and extinction. Eventually a saying was made for us."

"What was it?"

"SPARTANs never die . . . they just go missing in action."

This gave Ahsoka a new insight to the pure effectiveness of the SPARTANs, in her eyes they might as well have been gods of the battlefield, able to turn the tide at a moment's notice and inflict breathtaking casualty ratings on a massive scale. Clone troopers now looked like children next to these top of the line soldiers, ARC troopers might have a chance against them but only at the slightest. If the Republic had these class of soldiers then they would've won the war months after it had started. She was lucky to have such a powerful force on her side.

"So what were the other SPARTANs like? Other than Jorge?" she asks.

"I'm really not sure . . . they all held on together like they were family, they were nice, compassionate, always looked out for one another. They worked as a team just like Mendez wanted them to be."

"Mendez?"

"Where Doctor Halsey had us augmented and equipped to become SPARTANs, Officer Franklin Mendez trained and molded us into the perfect soldier, he taught how to fight and kill but he also taught us what's right from wrong. Some of us looked up to him as a father figure despite the disciplinary beatings we get for misconduct."

"Some kind of father figure" she remarks after hearing about the beatings.

"That's life in the UNSC. But time passed on and he began to respect us as fellow soldiers."

"So the other SPARTANs, you knew them right?"

"Of course I did, aside from Jorge there was some that were at least kind to me in a way. The most notable one was Kelly-087 or 'Rabbit' as we called her."

"Why Rabbit?" Tano asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's answer the question with another question: How fast can you run?"

Ahsoka wasn't sure where he was going with this "Pretty fast, why?"

"Not fast enough, Kelly is undisputedly the fastest human to ever live. No other SPARTAN could ever catch if she didn't want them to. Not to mention she can put anyone of us down in a heartbeat without a problem."

"Wow, what was she like?"

"Other than being lighting fast? She was sweet for the most part, to be honest I sort of had a thing for her despite regulations, I guess the feeling sort of faded away after the augmentations."

"Wait you liked her? That's cute" she said with a grin.

"May have been her English accent or something . . . but yeah she was great at what she did."

The two walked silently for the moment, James remembered Kelly back in their younger days while Ahsoka wondered what it would be like if she ever met this well-known SPARTAN.

Then she asks "Who else was there?"

"Well . . ." he started "There was Frederic-104, a straight forward kind of guy, Naomi-010, she loved to watch the stars roll on by, there was plenty more of them that I can list out but there was one guy who stood out from the rest, one that everyone saw as their leader, John-117."

"117? What was he like?"

"A natural born leader, one who looked after his own fellow soldiers and be the first into a combat zone and the last to come out of it. He took care of everyone regardless of their position among the SPARTANs. The only problem was that he and I never saw eye to eye."

"What happened?"

"If you hadn't notice after so long I have tendencies to go lone wolf on certain operations, feeling that I can perform better on my own without anyone to slow me down. John on the other hand firmly believed that we will all be much more effective if we worked as a team, which is true in most cases, but not me. Occasionally we argue about our view of effectiveness and almost on every occasion it turns into a scuffle, we trade blows until we either give up or our drill instructors had to come in and break it up with humbler batons or their own fists. Half the time the bastard gets lucky and wins, there was one time where I won a fight but I think he'd let me win."

"You know John is right, if we work together then we're better."

James had to chuckle "You're only saying that because you and I make a great team, and now with Jorge we've become even better."

"I'm right aren't I?"

"Yeah . . . I suppose you are. Here we are . . ."

The two arrived at the bulkhead hatch and entered through to the armor RIG station, the room was lifeless but they came here for a reason. Longarm motions Ahsoka to the monitor screens while he himself stepped onto the RIG and spread his arms out.

Tano found a blinking green icon labeled [INITIATE PROCEDURE] and lightly presses her fingers against it, the icon expanded and displayed [INITIALIZING] with Percival stating over the intercom "Removing MJOLNIR Mk. V Power Armor, one moment."

The mechanical arms extended out from the ring, each reaching out to grab a certain component of the SPARTAN's armor, and began to systematically remove each component from his body, beginning with the helmet and arms with delicate touches, then they moved onto the chest and waist where the damaged chest piece was unresponsive to the arms' attempts to remove it which resulted in the piece to be further dismantled to the point where it fell off the body hitting the ground with a loud metallic clang. The arms then moved down to his legs and one by one they removed every last piece of titanium alloy from his body, now revealing a black body suit that conformed around his body structure.

The togruta watched as the six foot SPARTAN step out of the RIG and feel his cut across his chest, then he began to undress prompting her to look away.

James noticed her not looking and states "You don't have to be in here while I undress you know."

"I know . . ." she replies as she stares at the walls.

"You can look now, I'm still dressed."

Ahsoka hesitated to turn around until she sighs and takes a look, she finds James to be nearly nude save for a specially made pair of black coverings for his groin area. His legs, arms, and chest all shared something in common, massive muscular buildup, pale complexion, and numerous long scars that looked like they've been stitched together, the only thing that seemed to comfort her were his bright blue eyes.

Longarm then began to flex his muscles, stretching his limbs and neck stating "It's been a while since I've been out of that armor . . ." before proceeding to make his way over to the terminals where Ahsoka stood silently.

She carefully examined James's chest, noticing all of these scars that was caused long ago but the most notable mark of all was the freshest one, the one caused by Shev 'Vadamee's sword that had sliced through the SPARTAN's armor and left it there, the slash mark on his chest seemed to have burned through the outermost layer of skin and cauterized the wound before it could have caused any serious damage.

"Did it hurt?" she asks referring to the slash.

Longarm was now standing at the terminals with his back turned to her when he answered "I've had worse . . . but if you wanted to know, then yeah . . . it sort of did."

While the SPARTAN pressed several icons on the screen, accessing the ship's storage units for what he was searching for, Ahsoka couldn't help but stare at all of these markings that populated his broad back. She was standing so close to him she could reach out and touch them with her own hand. And that was when curiosity took over.

She slowly reached out with her right hand, her fingers etching ever so closer to the unsuspecting man's backside, and softly placed it against his back. She felt the SPARTAN's body tense, he didn't bother to turn around or say anything but instead he remained still and silent, the sudden jump caused her to retract her hand but after seeing him calm down she places her warm hand on his cold back once more and began to feel each scar carefully.

She asked as her finger tips glides across his back to each different mark "Did 'these' hurt?"

James remained silent, feeling her warm touch against his back, and finally spoke "The augmentation procedures was the SPARTANs' most difficult challenge yet . . . many of us died through the process, more were crippled and washed out of service. Only thirty five of us survived that day . . ."

She didn't want to say anything as she continued to feel every inch of his pale skin for every scar, each with a story of its own, she had to ask "Was it really worth it?"

He finally felt like he needed to break protocol, to let her understand what he and every other SPARTAN had gone through, but something in his mind held him back "In order to protect humanity from harm, we . . . had to do what was required, even if it costed our own lives."

The overwhelming sadness and anger was swelling up inside of him and she felt it as well, but she believed her soft touch was the only thing keeping him from going over the edge, but it was time and she withdrew her hand and offered "I can go, let you have a moment to yourself . . ."

He didn't respond which cued her to begin walking away until his voice called out to her "No."

She turns to him, finding him looking straight back at her, and he spoke "You can stay if you want, I believe I almost found what I'm looking for" before he turns back to the terminal, swiping away at the touch screens.

She came back over to his side, not trying to think about his scars, and watched the screen pass through every item in the ship's database until it came onto a suit of armor much similar to James's damaged suit.

She read the label and asks "Another set of power armor?"

"Yep" he replies as he presses the icon labeled [REQUISITION].

It wasn't long until a supply pod was rolled into the room via management rail and came down in front of the RIG, Longarm steps over to the capsule and punches in an eight-digit code into the keypad. The pod cracks open with a hiss and opens up revealing a large bulky suit of armor painted in olive green. Ahsoka steps forth and examined the armor, realizing it had seen better days with its cuts and scratches, and quickly spots the helmet, more round than the angular Mk. V EOD helmet she was used to seeing and featured an open gold-plated visor plate rather than the narrow slit black visor.

Percival was forced to ask "Is that the Mk. lV?"

"Yes it is . . ." James answers.

The RIG's mechanical arms reached in the capsule and began dissecting every piece of it, removing the green armored shell from the black bodysuit allowing the SPARTAN to take it and begin dressing himself once more. Once James was back in his old bodysuit he nods his head towards the terminal, prompting Tano to head back over and initialize the armoring process, and stepped back into the RIG with his arms out.

She asks "You have to downgrade yourself to a Mk. lV? What's so special about it?"

"The MJOLNIR Mk. lV Powered Assault Armor was Catherine Halsey's brainchild that she worked on alongside the SPARTAN Program, from what I was told she had several versions of the armor, all of them were too cumbersome and had to be tethered to a stationary power generator which ultimately failed, until she created this. After overcoming some technical complications the Mk. lV was the first successful armor system to be fielded, there was just one catch."

"And that is?"

"The armor enhances the wearer's speed and reflexes via a neural link, unfortunately the suit itself moves faster than the average human can think, thus causing sudden and violent movements that causes the man to react to his own pain. In brief note, the suit killed men via pain-induced spasms, breaking and shattering bone until the user is dead. Fortunately during the augmentations we were granted an upgrade to our neural interfaces, making us more compatible with the armor. In short, the Mk. lV was tailored made for SPARTAN-lls."

The mechanical arms kicked into gear, carefully latching pieces together onto his body as if it were a jigsaw puzzle starting with the arms and legs, each piece of the armor mechanically locked itself with the bodysuit and accompanying fragments of armor with mechanical clicks and whirs. Tano watched as the SPARTAN's body was overcome with green from the toe up, the arms then went for the chest carrying the hefty torso pieces by placing the frontal chest and rear torso segments against his body in sort of a sandwich fashion where they interlocked with themselves and latched themselves to his body.

James was allowed to step off the RIG, now adorned in his MJOLNIR Mk. lV Powered Assault Armor that he hasn't worn for so long, and began to flex his muscles missing the nostalgic feeling of wearing this armor once more, "Still fits like a glove . . ." he mentions as he balls up a fist with his right hand.

Ahsoka carefully examined every aspect of his armor, this version was considerably bulkier than the Mk. V with the green titanium alloy plating virtually covering his entire body save for a few black spots that showed his inner bodysuit, his shoulder pauldrons were uneven with the right shoulder holding a large piece in place while the left featured a much smaller shoulder guard, and his chest plate was as broad as his actual chest and that was when she noticed the number [121] labeled in bold white on his left pec.

One of the arms then extended out part ways towards Ahsoka, holding the roundish helmet out to her, with Percival stating "Here, you might like the honor."

The young togruta hesitated for a brief moment before she steps towards the arm and firmly grasp the helmet before the arm released its grip, the helmet then placed its full weight in her hands nearly making her drop it until she held it up once more. The helmet was definitely heavier than the Mk. V she held when James was hospitalized after his fight with her former master. She then walks over and stands in front of James, who was looking down at her from his new towering seven and a half foot height, and he gently bows his head over letting her slide the helmet over his head. That was when she realized that while the Mk. V made a SPARTAN look intimidating enough, the Mk. lV made them look like a hulking walking tank. She was looking at a super soldier in his primal form . . .

The helmet's HUD systems came online displaying shield strength, motion tracker, and biological data of the user's body. Everything was in order and now the only thing he needed to do was to perform a test run.

The SPARTAN then flexed his arms one last time before resting his left hand on her shoulders "Let's go see Jorge" he said with a grin.

[Fifteen minutes later, Cafeteria]

Jorge-052 was enjoying the silence alone as he ate his meal Percival prepared him, he was sitting in a booth next to a window watching the blue spectral light of Slipspace as it passed by, when he heard a distant door hiss open and looked over to see Ahsoka and Longarm donning his old Mk. lV.

He lets out a laugh "Haha, I figured you might still have that relic lying around."

"Yeah . . ." James replies "Never thought I had to use it again after so long."

The big man steps out from his seat and asks with a grin "Ma'am do you know how much that armor costs?"

Tano took another look at James and guessed "Eh . . . not much I'm guessing."

Longarm however corrects her "This armor costs just a little more than this ship."

"Wow really!?"

"Mhm."

Jorge asks "So are you up for a little sparring in a moment?"

"That's what I'm here for" James replies "We'll be in the training bay."

"Right then. I'll be there in a few."

[Twenty minutes later, Training Bay]

SPARTAN James was doing his routine boxing session with Ahsoka watching him from the benches, the room was silent save for the heavy blows the soldier was dealing to the worn out bag.

Ahsoka sat there silently with her head resting in her hands on her knees watching the SPARTAN '_Really must suck to be that bag right now . . ._' she thought to herself with boredom. Though she had to admit the last month with James had been one heck of a trip for her since she left the Order, then again another part of her missed her time at the temple with her master and her friends. But after the fiasco with the temple bombing, she still couldn't really trust in them as much as she wanted to, these SPARTANs and their AI were her new friends now.

That was just shortly before she hears the door hiss open and saw Jorge all armored up walking in, his helmet was firmly placed on replacing his grizzled face with the orange visor. He gives an acknowledging nod to her as he strode past and faced his closest friend, James takes one glance at his companion and delivers one last right handed blow to the bag before stepping away to face his opponent. Ahsoka sat up for once, anticipating a good fight in the next few moments, and paid close attention.

The two ironclad soldiers were feet from each other, sizing one another up for a fight as if they were bitter rivals, until Jorge asks "Let's make this interesting . . ."

"I'm listening" James replies standing firm.

"How about a friendly wager, loser gets ship repair duty for the next month."

"And the winner?" Longarm asks.

"Um . . ." Jorge answers half-heartedly, with most of the crew gone he ran out of barter ideas until his eyes came to a stop on Ahsoka and answers jokingly "Winner gets a date with that young lady over there."

However Tano hears the wager and rebukes him "What?! Not happening Jorge!"

The togruta's sudden uproar caused the two SPARTANs to let out a friendly chuckle before James playfully punches his friend's chest "It's a deal big man."

"Alright let's get to it then shall we?" Jorge asks as he raised his fists and entered his combat stance.

The other SPARTAN took several steps back and entered his stance.

The two stood idly for a moment, anticipating each other's move, before James makes the first strike stepping forward throwing a hard right jab for Jorge's chest. However the big man expected this and grasped his friend's fist with his own just before throwing a right underhand hook that collided with Longarm's lower torso, the SPARTAN grunted before shooting up his right knee that slammed into his friend's lower torso as well. Jorge staggered backwards a couple of steps, allowing James to quickly close the gap and deliver a hard high kick, his green metallic boot smashing against the towering SPARTAN's chest causing him to reel back further. Longarm was going to continue his streak with a fast right uppercut but Jorge swiftly recovered from his hits and quickly caught the flying fist with his left hand before sending a heavy blow across James's helmet with his right.

Ahsoka watched with awe, each SPARTAN was dealing blows that would break bones and kill a man, dodging fast strikes whenever possible with heighten reflexes and speed or effectively stop an attack dead in their tracks with their own hands, this was something only a Jedi or a well-trained martial artist could ever achieve, and she was amazed.

Jorge deals another hammer arm, slamming down on Longarm's head forcing him to fall to a knee before he comes back up with his two fists cupped together slinging it right into the underside of the giant's helmet. The hit was devastating, knocking the helmet clean off and causing Jorge to stagger back before securing his footing just as James was closing in for another attack. But instead of blocking or evading, the big man reaches out and forcibly grabs his friend by his right upper arm and upper left thigh raising him high above the ground before slamming his back against the hard floor. James gasped for the moment, having the oxygen knocked out of him was painful, but he was able to stand back up and begin delivering blow after blow with his fists, sending out hooks, jabs, and uppercuts in rapid succession that racked the giant's body. Jorge took every hit, each coming hard after the other, until he grasped James's helmet between his two hands and pulled him down while throwing his knee up, the two collided like a head on car accident and the smaller SPARTAN reeled back dazed before getting his bearings moments after.

Longarm quickly charges in and shoulder barges his friend in the chest followed up with a right hook, but Jorge quickly grasps his hand and shoots out his right fist but James in turn caught it forcing the two into a locked shoving match. Neither SPARTAN-ll wanted to back down until Jorge retracts his right hand and grabs James by the throat before lifting him into the air and throw him down onto the ground. James quickly gets back up and decides on one last effort, he charges towards the big man once more this time he tackles his friend's legs before getting a grip around his left leg and wait and lift the eight foot one ton super soldier off the ground causing the two the topple over onto the ground with a loud crashing sound. Jorge came down hard on his back while James painstakingly got back to his feet, only to receive a lightning fast metal boot to the chest completely knocking the wind out of him and sending him falling backwards onto the floor as well, breathless.

The two tried to get back up but neither could, that was when Ahsoka approached them and looked down at the two SPARTANs "So . . . who won?"

Both super soldiers pointed at one another and answered simultaneously with exhaustion "He did . . ."

"Good, you both get maintenance duty" she beams before she begins to walk away.

But James manages to sit up and stop her "Whoa-ho-ho wait a second there" she stops and turns to look at him "You owe both of us a date" he adds with a amused grin behind his helmet.

Tano rolled her eyes and shook her head before heading out the training bay, letting James stand back up and pull Jorge up to his feet who then comments "Well . . . it was worth a shot."

Longarm chuckled as he fetched his friend's helmet and returns it to him before stating "I'm going to head over to the range, make sure the ballistics software is in working order."

"Alright then, I suppose I'll head up to the bridge and see if Percival found anything about the Holonet."

On that note the two SPARTANs headed out the bulkhead hatch and parted ways, Jorge making his way to the bridge while James headed off to deck eleven.

[Two hours later, Deck eleven]

Ahsoka was coming by the doorway to the gun range when she heard muffled gunfire echo from behind the hatch, after getting some rest after watching the two soldiers spar she decided to go for a walk around the destroyer, and decided to head on in. The hatch slid open letting her find Longarm standing in a booth wielding a BR55 Battle Rifle, a standardized variant that lacked the longer heavy barrel seen on some models and instead sported the more compact barrel that was favored for close quarters or interior fighting, firing away at enemy targets that continuously appeared from the floor, walls, and ceilings.

The SPARTAN-ll downs a drone target from the ceiling when Ahsoka taps on his left shoulder pad, causing him to look back, and ask "How's the armor Longarm?"

James looks back at his ammo counter, displaying zeros, and sets the rifle down before stating "I'm getting a nostalgic feeling from it."

She watches him eject the empty magazine from the rifle's stock and insert a new one as she states "Percy finally got connected to the Holonet, you should've seen his reaction when he saw all that information."

"Like a kid at a candy store I'm assuming?"

"Pretty much."

The soldier presses the rifle against his shoulder and resumes firing, each three-round burst striking each target with lethal efficiency, until the magazine was empty once more just before the former Jedi asks "Hey James?"

Realizing that she called him by his real name, James knew this was something important, "Yeah?" he answers.

She presses her back against the side of the booth and asks "I know you probably don't like to talk about your parents and I totally understand it but . . . did you ever forgive them for what they did, what you saw that day?"

James sets the rifle down and turns to her "This is relevant how?"

"It's just an honest question . . ."

He sighs "In all honesty, I don't know. When I first found them like that I couldn't decide if I wanted to be angry at them or break down crying. Being a SPARTAN meant you have to emotionally composed, not allowing emotion to cloud our judgment or get in the way, that's what makes us soldiers."

"You say that like normal people and soldiers are two different things. Just like the Jedi we could feel emotion but we had to restrain ourselves from acting on them, else we lose our way. Like I did . . ."

He leans his back against the other side of the booth across from her and crossed his arms "You acted on experience, something in your mind told you that something was wrong and you had to act on it. You never really told me what happened, what made you leave the Order."

Ahsoka felt hesitant to tell him, but she learned to trust him enough to let him know "Well . . . my master and I were leading the assault on Cato Neimodia when Yoda contacted us and told us to come back to the Jedi Temple after it was bombed. We were supposed to go and find whoever was responsible and eventually found the wife of the bomber that killed himself, after arresting her and sent her to the local base for questioning, she wanted to talk to me. I went and heard what she had to say, but-" she stops herself.

The SPARTAN continued "But?"

"But suddenly she was being choked . . . at the time I didn't know who was doing it but everyone saw me with her on the security footage, it looked like I killed her. The troopers came and arrested me for a murder I didn't commit, I knew I was framed. Eventually I escaped, knowing I needed to find out who really did this and bring them to justice."

James continued to listen attentively to her story "After a while I ran into Ventress who was about to collect a bounty on me, but instead she decided to help me find out who the suspect was until we came to a warehouse where we part ways. Soon enough I was attacked by who I thought was Asajj but I was beaten and stunned by the troopers that found me alongside crates of explosives that was stashed there. When I came to I being transported to the court chambers where I was going to be sentenced . . ." her voice trails off from there.

He noticed she was starting to choke up as if she was reliving that moment in her life, he carefully reached out and placed his right gloved hand on her shoulder, she continues albeit heartbroken "I was about to be sentenced when my master came . . . with one of my closest friends escorted by temple guards . . . she was the one who bombed the temple- and she tried to frame me for it . . . all because she believed the Jedi were losing their way because of the war."

Longarm withdrew his hand and looked down into Tano's blue eyes that were on the verge of shedding tears "From then I knew I couldn't trust the Order anymore . . . how could I trust people if I couldn't trust my best friend?"

"I honestly don't know Ahsoka, time changes and so does the people. But normally trust is something that is earned, and so far you've earned my trust as well as Percival's and Jorge's which speaks volumes coming from a SPARTAN, especially a lone wolf like me."

The young togruta gave a small smile as she tries to dry her eyes, he continues "Where the Order may have lost faith in you, we haven't. You can count on us to watch your back, no matter the circumstance."

Ahsoka was overwhelming with pride and joy "Thank you . . ." she spoke softly before she rests her hand on his chest plate, James made no motion to her but instead quickly swiped across his visor in a pattern of a smile with his two fingers.

"What was that?" she asks with a grin.

"A signal we SPARTANs use, aptly called the 'Spartan Smile', it's something we use to express emotion, relief, greetings, or respect."

"Which one was that for?"

"Emotion, I'm real proud to know that you've gotten that off your chest . . . and that you trust an extra-galactic being enough to tell them so."

She grants him a warm smile before looking downrange and ask "Want to see who could shoot the most targets?"

James in response grabs his own M6G 2552 Model Magnum from the table in front of him and answer "You're on."

She grins and steps off into her own booth where she readies her M6C by flipping off the safety and chamber the first round, she then hears his voice "Percival, run simulation Alpha three-three-five."

"Of course" the AI responded kindly.

The alien targets slowly retracts to their hidden positions as the two contestants prepared their weapons and their aim, Percival then states "You will both be granted your own set of targets, Ahsoka Tano will engage targets highlighted red while SPARTAN James handles blue targets within a thirty second timeframe, you will be accounted for your kills and accuracy during the exercise. Are you ready?"

Both answered at once "Yes."

"Good, simulation begins in three . . . two . . . one . . ."

At that moment the first pair of targets, one blue and one red, appeared in front of the two and they began squeezing off rounds one after another. Whenever a target was struck it would withdraw to its former position while a new target would appear elsewhere almost immediately after. One after another a gunshot echoes through the range and another target falls, eight rounds in and Longarm was forced to reload his weapon while Ahsoka was able to put four more targets down before having to reload. Shell casings littered the floor around their feet but that didn't stop them from effectively acquire each target and send a 12.7mm round spiraling downrange towards their intended target.

"Fifteen seconds" the AI states.

The SPARTAN had to eject his third empty magazine in exchange for a fourth while Ahsoka continued to dispense lead downrange until needing to reload as well.

"Five seconds."

The two were on their fourth mags when the final set of targets presented themselves, each contester was unrelenting effectively putting down every target the moment the appeared. That was when the bell sounded signaling the end of the simulation.

"Fire exercise has ended. Ahsoka Tano, your accuracy rating was placed at ninety one point eight percent while your kill count is thirty eight. Impressive."

The young former Jedi felt proud but now it was time for her opponent's results "SPARTAN James, as expected your accuracy is ninety six point seven percent while your kill count is thirty three."

"Ha! I win!" Tano chirps proudly.

James gives her a slow applause "Good shooting, I knew giving you that pistol was a good call."

The AI then asks "With that little contest out of the way, perhaps you two would like to join Jorge on the bridge? See what we found on the Holonet?"

Longarm was holstering his magnum answering "Yeah Percival, we'll be right there. C'mon Ahsoka."

"Coming" she calls back as she holstered her own weapon.

After that the two began making their way up to the command bridge, hopefully to find out what they will be doing next.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	28. Here to collect

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 28**

**"****Here to collect"**

[Realspace, _UNSC Vanguard_]

Ahsoka Tano and SPARTAN James appeared onto the bridge where they were quick to find out that the destroyer has returned to real space still somewhere in the Abrion Sector given the short duration of the travel through slipspace. Jorge and the holographic avatar of Percival were looking up at a holographic projection of a feminine droid acting as a news anchor for the galaxy-wide Holonet.

"You made a new friend Percy?" Ahsoka asks as she and Longarm stopped at the holotable.

"Very funny ma'am . . . no we were listening to the latest occurrences across the galaxy.

"Your galaxy makes a lot of peculiar droids don't they?" Jorge adds rhetorically

"That's a luxury droid; they've been mainly used as servants and broadcasters. For obvious reasons . . . boys are all the same no matter where or what."

All three men looked at the togruta with Percival asking "That includes us as well doesn't it?"

"What? No! Um I mean . . ."

The three men chuckled under their breaths which resulted in Tano giving James a punch across his shoulder just before they tuned their ears in to what the droid was announcing "In more recent times, the Grand Army of the Republic achieves another victory in the outer rim territories, while the frontline push towards the Separatist homeworlds are slowly advancing across the stars. In other news, the crisis on the agricultural world of Ukio was resolved when the Republic 104th and 212th battalions responded to various attacks on local settlements. The investigation soon turned into a full conflict between the Republic and an unaffiliated faction with a substantial military force, casualties were remarkably high but our boys in white emerged victorious."

Percival then muted the droid's voice with Jorge stating "Well . . . so much for credit."

"Don't worry about it Jorge, I kind of like the modest living style" Longarm comments.

"Well that might just suit you" Percival retorts "But I prefer to earn credit where it is due. The least they could've done is mention us as a third party."

Jorge changes the subject "With that aside, after our little spar in the training bay, I had Percival run a munitions check on our weapons systems" he then turns to the AI "Percival?"

Percival took away the luxury droid and placed the Vanguard in its place on the holotable "Over the last month of active combat we've been using a lesser amount of munitions than we normally expect from fighting the Covenant. We're still well stocked up on Archers and ammunition for our point defenses but our MAC is a different story."

"Why is the MAC the problem?" Tano asks rather curious.

Jorge asks her "Have you seen the size of the rounds we fire? Roughly the size of a school bus."

Longarm adds to clarify "UNSC warships can only hold so many rounds because of their size and how much credits and materials it takes to make one. The last time I remembered, a destroyer can carry twenty four rounds before having to resupply from an external source, Percival how many rounds do we still have?"

"From our engagements with the Covenant prior to the incident and our more recent activities, we have fourteen rounds left in storage" the AI responded feeling a sense of importance over the matter.

"Damn . . ." Longarm cursed himself before giving a moment to think "Alright we'll need to be selective with our targets, only use the cannons for the greatest potential threat to the ship, until we can find a way to replenish our supplies."

Jorge interjects "How? You and I both know what those rounds are made of so how are the three of us going to have the time to dig up the materials and manufacture one shell?"

But Ahsoka argues "You don't have to use the same materials to build a shell, this galaxy has a whole variety of minerals that you could use, and you can probably buy some of it easy off the market or scavenge from ship wrecks from time to time."

"Alright that solves our materials situation, but what can we do to build a solid shell? This ship isn't even rigged with an on-board fabricator capable of producing something of that size."

James gave the holographic avatar one glance which prompted the AI to mention "Um . . . about that."

Ahsoka was quick to realize "Let me guess, you do have a fabricator for the MAC."

"Believe it or not, but the _Vanguard_ was originally assigned to be a long-range patrol vessel meaning trips that could last up to several years, so we were fitted with such a fabricator capable of creating tungsten-ferric slugs for the cannon. We even have enough resources to produce two rounds for the cannon and plenty more ordnance for the pods and guns before needing to resort to other sources."

Jorge turned to Longarm "You knew about this?"

"It wasn't at the top of my mind" he retorts "But nonetheless that gives us sixteen slugs that we need to use only in the direst situations, much like our nuclear arsenal."

Tano had to ask "We have two warheads left right?"

The AI answers "Correct."

"Right well what about small arms and munitions for our other crafts?" James wonders.

"We still have enough ammunition to start a small scale guerrilla war and enough explosives to destroy this ship twice, we're still stocked on ammunition and ordnance for our other vehicles to last us a while. But we need a solution to our problem once our UNSC standard munitions are depleted."

Ahsoka had one solution "We could always buy blasters to replace the small arms."

Longarm adds "We could possibly get our hands on some small Starfighters to replace the Sabre and Wombats."

But Percival still presented one dilemma "And what about the destroyer? It's going to take serious effort to replace the point defenses and missile pods for whatever this galaxy may have to offer. And we can't afford any weapon systems that may prove taxing for our reactors. From what I was able to gather from the Holonet, which is hardly enough, the destroyer barely has enough electrical output to charge a turbolaser for a single burst, let alone a blaster cannon."

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out when we come to that bridge in the meantime let's do what we can about the Covenant and possibly the war."

"Yes of course . . . I'll begin to sca- Warning: multiple unidentified vessels have been detected coming out of hyperspace within sensor range."

Longarm's mind quickly jumped into action "How far out?"

The hologram changed once more, this time into a small flotilla of ships all roughly the same size as Ahsoka's Gozanti Cruiser, with AI stating "Eighteen hundred nautical kilometers off our port bow, and they are approaching fast."

The four closely examined the incoming vessels, they counted five ships, three of which looked like gunships while the remaining two were acting as transports, all of different classes with different designs, regardless James orders "Give them a warning, if they don't turn back then prime the pods and guns."

"Of course" the AI complies before opening a channel on all frequencies "This is the _UNSC Vanguard_ to unidentified ships, you have trespassed into a secure no-fly zone, proceed to correct your vectors and return to hyperspace, failure to comply will be met with force."

They watched carefully hoping the five ships would turn away but they remained on course, "They're not responding, warming up missile pods and bringing our turrets online" Percival reports.

"What're they doing? They don't look military to me" Jorge remarks as he rubs his chin trying to understand the situation.

But Ahsoka had an idea on what was about to happen "They're pirates, James we can't let them on the ship."

Longarm acknowledged and relayed the order "You heard her Percival, lethal force has been authorized, acquire lock-on and fire at will."

"Gladly."

[_Slave l_, Cockpit]

Aboard the heavily modified Firespray-31-class Attack Craft, _Slave l_, Boba Fett, a young unaltered clone of his 'father' the legendary and late Jango Fett, flew the ship in the company of a female mandalorian bounty hunter named Vale Kaladi as they, and their supporting vessels, closed in on the Halberd-class Destroyer.

"Now are you going to tell me the plan?" Boba asks as he steers the ship.

Vale sat next to him, working on one of her dual Model 434 'DeathHammer' Heavy Blaster Pistols, and answered "It's simple; the gunships will distract the ship's defensive guns while the transports finds a way to board it."

Almost immediately after elaborating the plan, a blue-skinned duros outfitted with a pair of LL-30 blaster pistols and easily recognized by his wide-brimmed hat, Cad Bane appeared behind the two and comments with his usual raspy voice "Sounds simple enough."

But Boba protested "You're placing a lot of faith in those transports; they're too slow and hardly have any shields or guns to protect themselves."

"That's why we're here, to distract the guns, aren't you paying attention?"

Fett sighed and turned his attention back to flying the ship that was until moments later when one of his consoles lit up emitting a high-pitched beeping "We have missile lock."

Bane watched as they neared the destroyer before stating "This is where the fun begins."

In the distance they could see the dark four hundred eighty five meter long arrowhead shaped warship, slowly growing in size as they approached, and soon a storm of missiles were launched from the destroyer's port side.

The beeping immediately became erratic with Boba stating "We have missile launch, readying counter-measures."

"How many?" Vale asks.

"You really don't want to know."

As the hailstorm of Archer Ship-to-Ship Missiles rapidly closed in on their designated targets, _Slave l_ and the others attempted to take evasive maneuvers but the transports were too cumbersome to take any real actions. The three watched as portions of the missile volley slammed into the slow ships, many piercing their weak shields, and tore them apart with sheer unmatched force, shredding the outer hull and eviscerating the inner structuring, they never stood a chance.

"Well so much for the transports" Boba remarks as he began to make hard banking maneuvers to stay ahead of the missiles that had turned and pursued the gunships.

"Means more credits for us once we get this bounty" Vale replies seemingly happy about the loss of the transports and their crews, even Cad gave a satisfied grin.

The _Slave l_ was being followed by seven of the original sixty missiles launched from the destroyer but it wasn't long till Boba activated the ship's counter-measure systems, deploying decoy flares from either side of the ship that emitted a scrambling code that mimicked the _Slave's_ signature, and successfully drawn the missiles away putting them in the clear for the time being. But their moment of relief was short lived once the vessel's eight point defense batteries came online and began firing illuminating flak rounds onto the three gunships, with each round detonating dangerously close to the ships' hull causing shrapnel to rack the durasteel.

One explosion detonated too close for comfort for Vale prompting her to say "Okay change of plans! We'll board that ship and deal with the targets ourselves."

"And how do you propose we'll get on the ship without getting blasted!?" Boba argues.

Kaladi took a moment to think, watching of the gunships that strayed too close to the destroyer in an attempted strafing run on the destroyer's hull be torn apart by flak and a small barrage of missiles, the blaster fire given from the gunship did little to damage the titanium alloy armor.

Then she remembered something and asked "Didn't you say you installed a signature scrambler on the ship?"

[_UNSC Vanguard_, Bridge]

"Another hostile ship has been destroyed, that would be three kills so far" Percival reports with satisfied grin.

Longarm congratulated the AI "Good work, redirect gun batteries five and seven onto that gunship at grid B-2, looks like he's about to make a run on our bow."

"Acknowledged, and you will be pleased to know that the fourth ship that was located in grid A-5 has been destroyed, their transponder dropped off radar."

"Excellent work, these pirates should've known better than to take on a UNSC destroyer head on, even the Covenant knows better."

"They're pirates, they never do" commented Ahsoka.

The remaining gunship came within weapons range and began firing its dual repeating blaster cannons, sending bolts slamming into the outer armored hull of the ship causing minimal damage to the armor.

That was until the gunship fired two proton torpedoes from its missile bay causing to alarm Percival "Warning: Incoming torpedoes . . . range: two hundred and fifty meters out. Brace for impact."

As the two proton torpedoes zeroed in on the ship, the automated gun batteries fired away sending a monstrous amount of flak around the withering gunship and the torpedoes, and once the attacking ship was reduced to nothing more than riddled, twisted metal, the two torpedoes slammed into the _Vanguard's_ starboard mid-section, ripping through the outer layers of armor with relative ease and caused massive damage on a small scale, rendering the entire deck level inaccessible until the breach was repaired.

The trio maintained their footing as the ship rocked violently from the impact, "Report!" Longarm barks.

"Deck nine has been breached and venting; I've secured all hatches on that level and initiated damage control systems to repair the hole. We're fortunate enough that it didn't breach the other levels."

"Alright, that means all hostile targets have been eliminated . . . good work."

"Wait- one of the vessels' signatures just came back online" the AI reports seemingly surprised.

But Jorge didn't believe it "No way a ship that small could've survived flak rounds, let alone a single Archer."

"This one didn't have to; I'm guessing it jammed its own signal to remain hidden."

Tano asks "Where is it now?"

"Docking with our port airlock on deck thirteen. Our guns don't have an angle on that ship and I can't risk firing the missiles on ourselves."

James quickly ordered "Seal all bulkhead hatches and give us access to the emergency weapons locker."

"Of course."

As the SPARTAN walked over to a wall, containing a bracket holding two M7 SMGs, a BR55 Battle Rifle, and a M45 CIWS Tactical Shotgun. He grabs the M45 and tosses it over to Jorge, who caught it and performs a quick weapons check, while he takes the two SMGs and attaches them to his thighs and takes the battle rifle into his hands.

Ahsoka with a firm expression said "C'mon, let's go say hello to our pirate friends" and headed off the bridge with the two SPARTANs following her out.

[Deck Thirteen]

After having cutting their way through the internal locking mechanisms of the ship's airlock with a plasma cutter, Vale, Boba, and Bane took their first steps aboard the Halberd-class Destroyer into the empty lit hallways with no soul to be found.

"You think for a ship this large there be a crew" Fett remarks as he glances down the hallways.

"Yeah . . ." Kaladi replies carefully with her two blasters in hand "I'm beginning to think this isn't their ship . . ."

"It'd be a shame if someone took it off their hands" the duros remarked as he took in the interior design, robust and dull.

Almost immediately a voice with an English accent spoke through the intercom system "Oh I can assure you, the ship is in the hands of its rightful owners. I can singlehandedly control this vessel at my will on the command of my creators."

"Creators? So you're a droid then" Vale replies.

"You might say that, but don't worry I'm the least of your worries as of right now."

At that moment Boba called out "Vale!" causing the two to turn on their heels and spot a young togruta standing a little ways further down the corridor leading to the bow of the ship, two lit lightsabers in her hands. Not moments later did a green mechanical giant, followed up by an even larger armored figure, appear around the corner behind the Jedi with a black scoped rifle in hand, and aimed directly at the three bounty hunters.

Bane quickly recognized Ahsoka and greeted her with the tip of his hat "Well hello there little lady, didn't figure you'd be here."

Jorge wonders low enough for only Tano to hear "You two met before?"

"Bane. I was hoping you'd gone down with some of the other ships" she replies sharply to the bounty hunter.

"What can I say?" Cad shrugs before he gestures to the boy "I got a good pilot to taxi me around."

At that moment Vale trained her pistols on the giant, Boba drew a DC-17 from his side aiming it at the same target, Bane drew his dual pistols, and she demanded "Step aside Jedi, we're collecting his bounty."

"Bounty hunters?" the SPARTAN muttered just as Ahsoka responded "Leave now. You're outmatched."

Vale chuckles "That may be, but it hasn't stopped me before."

The two female fighters narrowed their glares on each other, Vale slowly trained her blasters on Ahsoka while Tano readies her sabers in return. Boba kept his aim on Longarm while the SPARTAN kept his rifle leveled with both hostiles; Jorge maintained his position behind the two with his shotgun ready.

Then James orders with authority in his voice "Both of you leave the ship now or we will use force!"

"And miss one of the largest bounties I've ever seen? You have a funny sense of humor soldier boy" Cad retorts.

Both sides stood idly with weapons pointed at one another, waiting for the first one to pull the trigger, in James's mind he analyzes the situation: Three unidentified suspects, one female, one child, and a male foreign species all heavily armed and are currently presenting themselves as significant threats to the ship and crew with the intent of inflicting harm. Shoot to disable? Negative. Lethal force is necessary and has been authorized.

The SPARTAN was the first to pull the trigger, sending a three-round burst of semi-armor piercing projectiles slamming into Vale's chest plate without warning, the two watched her fall to the ground without a sound and called out "Vale!" before turning back and open fire sending blue and red bolts downrange towards the trio.

Longarm made no attempt to duck for cover as he stood behind Ahsoka allowing her to deflect the incoming rounds with ease until Vale steadily got back to her feat, saved by her mandalorian armor fitted with a denser alloy plating of mandalorian iron. She and Bane dives for cover afterwards, avoiding further incoming fire from the SPARTAN and his lethal aim, alongside Boba and the three began returning fire. Tano deflected as many shots as possible but few would make it through and either pass by harmlessly or hit against Longarm's shields, his MJOLNIR Mk. lV was holding fairly well but due system restraints and outdated technology his energy shield was proving to be somewhat more vulnerable to enemy fire than the Mk. V.

He and Jorge were eventually forced to take cover behind a strut that protruded from the walls and he return fire keeping the hunters in cover which allowed Ahsoka to take the opportunity and charge forward. Kaladi quickly spots the incoming Jedi and trained both of her pistols before firing away sending red bolts of laser fire downrange, her skill with her preferred weapons allowed her to be efficient in killing her targets, including Jedi. However Tano made quick use of her two sabers, deflecting every shot until she came within striking distance and lunged for the mandalorian who quickly holstered her blasters in exchange for her beskad, a mandalorian styled sword featuring a blade commonly made of a forged lightsaber-resistant metal called mandalorian iron or more commonly known as beskar.

The bounty hunter swung her sword up and effectively countered Ahsoka's lightsabers when she swung them in a downward motion, Boba takes aim at Tano with the intent to shoot to stun but his blaster was suddenly shot out of his hand forcing to turn and spot the two towering SPARTANs charging at him with Longarm having his rifle raised. Jorge charges in like a freight train and nearly slams himself into Bane however the latter was able to leap out of the way and fire a quick four round burst of shots into the giant's back, all of which were countered by the shields, before the SPARTAN came back around swinging his shotgun like a club where it collided with the side of Bane's head, knocking the duros onto the ground with extreme force.

"Don't move!" Longarm barked at the young Fett who in turned bolted the other way fleeing the scene.

Ahsoka ordered "Longarm stay with the kid! I'll deal with her!"

The SPARTAN nodded and began sprinting after Boba down the corridor, Vale maintained her footing against Ahsoka, both of their weapons were locked with one another in a balanced struggle, and she asks "He sounds cute, is he your betrothed?"

"Yeah! He's one of a kind!" Tano replied jokingly just as she blasts the mandalorian away with a Force Push.

Kaladi secured her footing by driving her sword into the floor panels before standing back up at the ready "That's sweet. I'll be sure to attend the ceremony."

The bounty hunter then swung her blade into the reversed grip, much like Ahsoka's style, and moves in for the strike lunging at the togruta who raised her two sabers and blocked the hit, Vale then asks mocking her "You're a little small for someone like him aren't you?"

[Deck Fourteen]

Boba was making haste trying to elude the SPARTAN-ll as soon as possible but he stayed on him easily with weapons in hand.

James yells out "Stop right now!"

But Boba didn't respond, instead he reaches for a small utility belt around his waist and produces a small silver orb, with a flip of a switch he turns and hurls the orb towards the incoming SPARTAN while emitting a high pitched pinging and blinked red. Longarm immediately dove for cover to avoid the inevitable explosion. But once the device bounced off the floor it ejected a stream of smoke and filled the corridor with a grey haze, giving the boy enough time to run away putting distance between himself and the soldiers.

"It was only smoke? Damn kid." James growls as he resumes the chase.

The SPARTAN sprinted through the smoke and quickly spotted Boba far down the corridor overriding a door hatch and enter, closing the door behind him. He quickly arrived to the sealed hatch and began attempting to open the door via keypad but for some reason it denied him access to the room.

"Percival get this door open" he orders after making a second attempt with the keypad.

The AI responded "I am unable to access the door controls, it appears he spliced through the wiring mainframe, locked it from the inside, and turned out the lights, clever boy. However this is a minor setback and I will have control in just a few moments."

"Alright I'm going in on thirty, switching to thermal."

With a mere instant thought through their neural links the SPARTAN's vision was switched to thermal setting, the man himself was glowing bright orange with heat while his weapons and surroundings were a darker purple. He then stacked up on the left side of the door and readied his weapon, with the intent of subduing the child rather than using lethal force.

"Hatch opening in three . . . two . . . one . . ."

At that moment the hatch slid open, James storms in checking every direction in order to prevent being flanked or ambushed but the boy was nowhere to be found. The room was pitch black but the two super soldiers could see clearly, unfortunately for them Boba was nowhere in sight, instead all he could see was shelves and storage units for spare parts for vehicles and maintenance, he was inside of one of the _Vanguard's_ storage bays.

James carefully scanned his side of the bay when he muttered in Hungarian "Hol lehet a fiú?" (_Where's the boy?_)

After a quick thought he glanced up to see a single vent leading into the air ducts; he grabs a nearby stepstool and places it under before climbing up to open the vent and look inside. But once he peered his head inside and spotted Boba lying in the darkness, Fett lashes out with a handheld stun device jabbing it into the SPARTAN's neck and causing him to yell out in pain before falling off the stool onto the floor with a heavy thud. The young bounty hunter leapt out from the air ducts and swiped one of James's SMGs from his thighs.

Longarm propped himself on one elbow, recovering from jolting shock he received to the neck, and looks up to see Boba looking down at him with his own gun pointed at him "Your bounty is going to set me for life . . ." Fett claims.

The SPARTAN made no motion to stop him and states "Well what're you waiting for? Do it."

Boba seemed to have hesitated a little; he hasn't killed anyone yet despite having tried to and still seemed unsure of what may happen to him afterwards. A moment has passed before he steels himself, corrects the aim of the gun onto James's head and pulls the trigger, only to hear the click of an empty chamber.

"What?" Fett asks in disbelief.

"Forgot the magazine did you?" he asks as he shows the stick mag in his hand "It's useless" Longarm explains as he steadily gets back on his feet "And now you're coming with me for questioning."

Boba attempts to run but the SPARTAN lunged out and seized his right arm before holding him up above the ground for interrogation "Who placed the bounty on us?" James asks with a firm tone.

"Let go of me!" Fett demanded.

"Who. Placed the bounty on us?"

"I don't know!"

"You're lying! Don't think you can fool a SPARTAN, if you don't tell me what I want to know I'll personally drag you to the brig!" Longarm yelled out, his voice booming over the boy's.

"Alright alright!" Boba yelled back "It was a Jedi! And we're not after anyone else, just you!"

"I want a name!"

"I don't have one I swear!"

James eventually became perplexed "Why would a Jedi try and put a price on me? It doesn't make- AAAGH" he soon cried out as Fett drove his shock device into the SPARTAN's waist causing him to let go.

Boba fell to the floor before clubbing James over the helmet with the empty gun before darting for the door; the SPARTAN quickly recovered and resumed chasing after the boy through the corridors.

[Deck Thirteen]

Tano staggers back after being dealt a swift blow to her right cheek from Vale's left gauntleted fist. The togruta withdraws to a distance while her opponent readied herself with her beskad in hand; having already tasted blood when the blade had cut across Ahsoka's left side only moments prior though fortunately the wound wasn't deep.

Bane and Jorge however were dealing blows one after another, they disarmed each other after a brief firefight shortly after Longarm had gone to track down Boba, with Jorge doing his best to land a heavy blow and Cad avoiding every strike with the aid of his jet-powered boots dealing quick strikes though it was hardly fazing the SPARTAN.

Kaladi stood her ground with her sword hanging loosely in her hand "So what's a Jedi like you doing with soldiers like these? They hardly look your type."

"That isn't any of your business now is it?" the togruta replies sharply.

"Ohhoho defensive aren't we? Don't worry I won't tell your lover."

"He's not my-" she stops herself giving an annoyed groan before lunging out with her sabers.

Vale grinned, having annoyed the Jedi enough, before she skips to her left evading the lightsaber and attempt another slash at her side. However Tano quickly reacted swinging her right-handed saber up and block the attack.

Jorge throws another right hook towards the duros bounty hunter only to miss yet again when Cad ducks below the fist and maneuver to the SPARTAN's backside, with the aid of his boots, and fire his grappling hook around his opponent's neck, the wire wrapping around Jorge's throat to ensure it's secured, and began to pull on it hoping to bring the giant down. However he underestimated the SPARTAN's augmented strength when Jorge grabbed hold of the wire and pulled, flailing the bounty hunter around until he slammed him into the wall, before grabbing Bane and deal a harsh blow to his head.

Cad was then thrown away like a piece of garbage, sprawling out onto the floor before he steadily gets back up to his feet albeit taking heavy breaths. He takes one glance at his dual pistols lying on the floor close by and dives for them just as Jorge does for his shotgun, Bane was the first to reach his blasters and opened fire when the SPARTAN grabbed his weapon and took cover behind a strut before leaning out to fire off a shell.

With the two sides dueling it out through firearms and swords, James returns to the scene with his left wrapped around Fett's neck as he struggled to free himself, and he raises his M6G magnum at Cad firing a shot that grazed the bounty hunter's left arm. Bane yells out in pain before setting his eyes on the green SPARTAN and his prisoner, his magnum was trained on his head.

"Vale . . . we have a problem" Cad claims calmly.

Kaladi immediately disarms and takes Ahsoka hostage after another saber lock before looking over to see her companion being held hostage by Longarm, the two bounty hunters immediately ceased hostilities by ironically turning their weapons on him instead of continuing their fights.

Vale tightened her hold on the togruta while Bane fell back to her side with his blasters still trained on the SPARTAN, just as James demanded "You have someone that belongs to us."

The mandalorian chuckled "Aww he does love you. That's sweet" much to Ahsoka's displeasure.

Bane however stays focused "We could say the same to you."

Jorge joins James's side "Then perhaps a prisoner exchange is in order but on our conditions."

"Let me go!" Boba demanded.

Longarm ordered "Quiet."

The two armed bounty hunters looked at one another, hoping to find a way out of this mess while they still hold the cards but however they needed Boba for their own reasons, Cad then asks "What are your demands soldier boy?"

"Just three simple requests: One, you let go of Ahsoka in exchange for the kid. Two, you get on your ship without any further struggle and leave. And third, is that you never show your faces around us again, or we will kill you. Am I understood?"

The duros responded reluctantly "Crystal . . ."

"Good. First step."

The two bounty hunters hesitated and were reluctant to release their own prisoner, but Vale eventually took a deep sigh and lets Ahsoka go which in turn allowed James to release Boba. Tano gathered her sabers and calmly walked over to the SPARTANs while Fett returned to his co-workers.

The two prisoners were now back to their respectful parties with Longarm stating "Now step two."

"Yeah we got the idea, we're going" Bane growls before he and Boba made their way back to the airlock where _Slave l _was docked.

However Vale stayed behind only for a brief moment to say "You know there'll be more people like us coming after you, right?"

"We'll be waiting for them" Jorge answers confidently.

She gives a grin, actually starting to like the way these men live despite fighting them tooth and nail for the moment, she then looks to Ahsoka as she began to back away "Hope you enjoy your honeymoon pretty girl."

Tano quickly protested "He's not my-" but stops herself knowing there was no chance of making Vale quit taunting her.

Kaladi was soon back aboard Boba's ship and they detached from the _Vanguard_ making way for open space, the trio watched through a nearby viewport as the ship distanced itself before jumping into hyperspace.

Jorge comments "Well that could've gone worse."

His fellow SPARTAN replied "Yeah . . . Ahsoka what did she mean about a hon-"

"I don't want to talk about it" she interrupted him.

The big man then asks "So if those were bounty hunters, who placed the hit on us?"

Ahsoka replies "I don't know, someone who knew about you two long enough to even hate you. But-"

"A Jedi" James answers surely "Cain."

"Cain Komari? But why?"

"He's the only one that has it out for me, he convinced Skywalker to confront me which failed. It's only reasonable to think he'd send hunters next."

Jorge asks "So what now?"

"We get out of this system before more bounty hunters arrive. Percival set course for a nearby system, one that will give us some breathing room."

The AI responded "I regret to inform you that we cannot make a slipspace jump with a breach in the ship's hull, or we risk exposing the interior to hazardous radiation, it will need to be fully restored before we can jump."

The SPARTAN sighed "Alright fine, Jorge and I will head out to make repairs, Ahsoka return to the bridge and help Percival with system diagnostics and radar surveillance."

Tano acknowledged the order with a nod and made her way bow, the two SPARTANs turned and headed off towards the aft with the hope of repairing the breach and regain their ability to make FTL jumps. With high hopes Ahsoka would learn something of the Covenant's movements via the Holonet but the chances were unlikely, but one can never be too sure.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	29. The downfall

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 29**

**"****The downfall"**

[_UNSC Vanguard_, Two weeks later]

Along the starboard hull of the UNSC destroyer, SPARTAN Jorge and James were out in hard vacuum tending to the repairs caused by the pair of proton torpedoes launched during the attack two weeks prior. Meanwhile Ahsoka was spending her time between tending to the Holonet with Percival and getting her rest from the seemingly unending series of battles she had fought alongside her new allies.

Outside the ship's hull, James finishes wielding another small plate of titanium with his arc-wielder when he looks over to Jorge, on the far side of the ever shrinking breach, and asks through the helmet's comms system "How's your side looking Jorge?"

He heard his friend's voice crackle through the radio "Just rewired the lighting system for the deck. All we need to do is close up the hole and reset the air filtration system."

Longarm nods to that and resumes repairs, the two were fortunate enough that the damage would have not been more severe thanks to the destroyer's heavy thick armor but it did give them a decent idea of the raw power starship weaponry carried in this galaxy. He holsters his wielder, activating his suit's onboard EVA thrusters, and floats into the destroyer via the breach finding spare parts and tools; they had brought from one of the _Vanguard's _storage bays, floating in zero-g. He quickly finds two more plates of alloy armor and grabs them before heading back out to the outer hull.

He gets back into position and begins to carefully wield the next piece together, after a silent moment in space he turns to Jorge, who was looking back at him for the brief moment, and flicks his finger signaling the SPARTAN to go onto a private channel.

They both switched off from the broadband UNSC frequency to their local secure private channel, Jorge asks "Got something on your mind?"

Longarm resumes wielding "It's Ahsoka . . . can't believe I'm saying this but I think I'm worried."

"About?"

"Us."

Jorge took a moment to think "You mean us SPARTANs?"

"More specifically us second generation SPARTANs . . ."

"I guess I'm not following . . ."

James gives a sigh and thought for a moment before he asks "What would happen if she figured out about our past? What Halsey did to us."

"What does she know?"

"She thinks we were already enlisted personnel that signed up to become SPARTANs, but I don't think that story will last forever."

"You're afraid of what she might say if she found out we're keeping a secret from her."

"Right . . ."

Jorge watched as Longarm simply stopped wielding, as if he became lost in his thoughts, and states "This has to be really important to you if you're getting distracted."

James glanced at his friend before resuming repairs "I just don't know what to do when she finds out."

"Well that depends, what do you want to do now? Tell her the truth or keep dwelling on it?"

The SPARTAN wields another plate part way before pausing for a moment and asks "I don't know what to do, I guess that's why I'm asking you . . ."

"James we're brothers, I trust you enough to follow you no matter what happens. You always find a way through difficult situations."

"Thanks brother . . . I just need a little more time to figure things out."

"I'll be ready when you are."

The two resumed their work, slowly piecing the hull back together plate by plate, wire by wire, their two weeks of hard labor was nearly complete and they only needed a little longer. Jorge soon runs out of parts and heads on inside where he grabs what he needed, however before he headed out he stops himself and looks at the wall to his left, featuring a plaque with the UNSC emblem situated behind it and the saying that wrote:

[UNSC DDH-151 Vanguard]

[Commissioned in 2509 in the defense of Earth and all her colonies]

Beneath the writing was an image of Earth with another saying:

[For her]

He was surprised that the plaque had survived the damage caused by the torpedoes but he gives a sigh in helplessness before he ventures back out through the breach, he assumes his position and got back to wielding.

Though it wasn't long before he asks "You think we'll ever get back home?"

James looks over to him asking "Now you have troubling thoughts?"

"Permission to express myself?"

"Jorge you said we're brothers, no need for permission."

The big man paused before he says what's on his mind "I just saw the plaque inside, with Earth, and I wonder if we should be back home where the fight is. I mean do we really belong here?"

"Well there are a lot of people out in this galaxy that would say no. Cain Komari being one of them. But whether it was fate, destiny, or a freak accident, we're here now and we should do what we can."

"Like what? What can we do other than fly around and fight battles for a cause we know nothing of?"

James had to think but he came up with no answers "I don't know Jorge . . . the Covenant is still out there but once they're gone . . . I don't know."

"So we take out the Covenant then what? Go on retirement?"

"Maybe. It sounds nice doesn't it?" Longarm asks with a grin.

Jorge couldn't help but chuckle "Hehe yeah . . . maybe Ahsoka would know a place where they have nice beaches, good drinks, and a nice little home we can retire in."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

[Ahsoka's private quarters]

Young Tano was lying down on her naval cot, which was surprisingly more comfortable than the standard-issued kind she found on Republic vessels, seemingly lost in her mind. For the past two weeks she was utterly bored, having not to being used to the silence after years in the Clone Wars and the near last two months with the SPARTANs. The good side was that she was now more able to learn about her friends' galaxy and the rich history behind it, even before the war with the Covenant, she was particularly interested in the unique individuals that had made grand accomplishments in order to propel humanity to a greater power. A good example she had learned were the two inventors Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa who were the first humans to discover slipstream space and create the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine to propel humanity into the stars.

She couldn't keep her eyes closed, even when she tried to fall asleep, and eventually sat up to see the UNSC terminal she was occasionally using more recently. She soon got out of bed and took the seat at the terminal before she began pressing keys, bringing the terminal online and accessing the UNSC database.

Percival was immediately alerted and his avatar appeared on the far right side of the screen "Miss Tano, I see that you're having difficulties resting, how may I be of service today?"

"Hey Percy" she replied tiredly "I just want to look at something for a bit."

"What would you like to know? I'll be glad to bring it on-screen."

She grinned, admiring the AI's sense of kindness and hospitality, "I like to know more about the SPARTANs, more specifically how they came to be."

"Well unfortunately some of the files regarding to that subject have been corrupted after the incident that sent us here. However I'll be more than happy to tell you about the SPARTANs' upbringing."

The UNSC emblem on the screen soon faded away and a photo of a fireteam of figures wearing MJOLNIR Mk. lV armor marching off to a distant battle with weapons in hands, Percival began "In 2511, UNSC HIGHCOM initiated the second generation of the ORION Project, later renamed SPARTAN-ll, in an attempt to end widespread insurgency that had plagued human space in the years prior. The UNSC needed a breed of soldiers that were capable of subduing insurgencies in their infancy, being able to minimize civilian casualties to avert an interplanetary civil war, and be cost efficient in commissioning and deployment. Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey proposed the plan to further train and augment enlisted personnel in preparation for combat utilizing her idea of powered exoskeletons, the same kind you see SPARTAN James currently using. It was decided among HIGHCOM and ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence, that the pool of candidates will be taken from one of humanity's most efficient combat forces, the ODSTs."

"ODST?" Ahsoka asks intrigued so far.

The screen slowly turned from the towering super soldiers to men donning full black body armor wielding suppressed weapons "The acronym for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, special UNSC forces trained for high orbital insertions behind enemy lines. Halsey and a few select ONI agents personally selected seventy five candidates to attend the program. James and Jorge being among those men and women."

"Seventy five? Why so few?"

"The cost to develop the MJOLNIR armor and perform augmentation procedures was fairly high, had they taken more candidates it would've gone over their budget. The candidates were subject to harmful physical training regimens and rigorous psychological exercises to further improve their already impressive attributes."

"I guess that's why James rarely misses with a rifle then" she remarked.

"Precisely. After years of training, the candidates were finally ready to complete the most difficult challenge presented to them yet, augmentation. Unfortunately due to the limited ability and technology the UNSC possessed at the time, only thirty three of the original seventy five survived the procedure with no physical and psychological abnormalities."

"Thirty three? But James said thirty five made it off the tables?"

"Oh . . ." the AI responded surprised "I suppose he told you that didn't he? He was referring to himself and another SPARTAN, Sierra-077, Rose. The reason behind this is because he and Rose were taken off the official roster to act as covert ops under the most secrecy, often only answering to the director of ONI or in more sentimental cases, Doctor Halsey."

"So James and Rose were pretty special then."

"Correct."

"So I take it the program was a success then? Did they quell the insurgency?"

"The SPARTANs definitely made an impact against the insurgents, reducing their numbers to a dwindling regiment of soldiers, until they were called upon in 2525 to combat a far greater enemy encountered by humanity, the Covenant. Eventually they proven to be our greatest line of defense against the aliens, members of the Covenant even began to call the SPARTANs 'demons' out of fear and respect."

Ahsoka was inspired by the program, knowing men and women of the UNSC were willing to do what it took to protect what they valued, even if it costed their own lives. Though she couldn't help but feel sorry for those that didn't survive the augmentations, their lives wasted away in the most agonizing way, she almost shuddered by the thought of the pain.

But something new came to her mind "What were the SPARTANs like in civilian life, surely they were allowed leave after so long right?"

The AI nodded "Of course but those times were rare and short due to the Covenant's advances through human space."

Ahsoka then asked apparently heavily interested "So what else can you tell me about the SPARTANs?"

Percival took a moment to skim through the databases "Well you know plenty of the SPARTANs you've seen, why not go back to the origins of the original Spartans, essentially the ancestors and distant precursor to what you see today."

The screen changed from the ODSTs to men donning gold plated armor, red capes, armed with primitive rounded shields and spears fighting other soldiers wielding swords in head on combat, Percival continued "Dating far back to ancient times during the Second Persian War in 480 BC, being little over three thousand years ago, all of ancient Greece was under threat of being conquered by the neighboring Persian Empire led by their king, Xerxes l, who sought to control all of Greece. Many saw the Persians as undisputed and submitted to Xerxes's rule however many resisted his control, the two most prominent ones being the Athenians and the Spartans."

Ahsoka was already deeply interested in the subject "The Spartans at the time were a strong and courageous people, they valued the code of the warrior and their soldiers were trained from when they were young."

"Wait they trained children to become soldiers? Why would they do that?"

"Is it any different from becoming a Jedi at a very young age?"

Tano was about to raise an argument but she saw the point he was getting at, even though the Jedi and Spartans had very different beliefs, both realized that in order to become a strong individual they had to start from a young age.

She lets him continue "When the Persians began their advance through Greece, King Leonidas l of the Spartans sought to hold them at the shoreline pass of Thermopylae with three hundred Spartans at his command along with reinforcements from other city-states. When Xerxes and his force of roughly eight hundred thousand men arrived at the past, they were met by the three hundred Spartan warriors that stood shoulder to shoulder with shields raised and spears sharpened ready to fight and die if necessary. The first day of the battle began when the Persian king launched the first wave of foot soldiers, numbering in the thousands, against the Greeks who aligned themselves in a defensive phalanx formation creating a wall of bronze shields with their spears protruding through the small openings. It had been said that the Persian army suffered heavy losses while the Spartans only lost three of their own."

"How did the battle end?"

"The battle lasted three days, but unfortunately the Greeks were betrayed by one of their own who gave word to Xerxes about a mountain pass that led around Leonidas's position. Soon Persian troops marched through the pass, killing off the small contingent of defenders there, and surrounded the remaining forces that stood on the path. Leonidas and those under his command, including many of his allies that chose to stay and fight, died when their ranks were overwhelmed and cut down."

Ahsoka took the moment to take it all in, humanity's existence had been riddled with numerous wars and fighting, she had to ask "Why does humanity keep fighting itself? What's the point if it keeps tearing them apart?"

The AI sighed "That is something I've been wondering myself for some time ma'am . . . I suppose it is in their nature to fight and die. Whether it is religious beliefs or responses to acts of violence, war is what makes them what they are, human."

She took another moment to contemplate on what he had said, as much as she didn't like it, it made since after all. She going to ask yet another question but her stomach growled, beckoning her to find something to eat, she didn't say a word when Percival caught on and shut down the terminal.

"I suppose school is done for today" Percival remarks jokingly.

The togruta gave a warm sincere grin and nodded before she stood up and headed out her quarters on her way to the cafeteria.

On her way through the corridors she asks "What are the boys up to right now?"

Percival responded through the intercoms "They're making the last bits of repairs to the hull, at this rate I believe we'll be ready for launch within the hour."

"Great, I was getting tired of staying out in open space."

"So I've noticed."

Ahsoka walked further down the corridor until taking a turn where the ship's central lift was located, she steps on and presses the icon for deck fifteen, after that the lift began to ascend towards its designated level. Once the lift came to a steady stop she steps off and continues making her way to the cafeteria, she was debating on what to eat when she arrived, but due to the variety of food she liked on board it was proving to be difficult to choose.

Eventually she was nearing the cafeteria when she finally decided and asks "Hey Percy, would you please make me a tray of moa steak with wheat rice?"

The AI answered politely "Gladly. One moa steak, well done, with a side of wheat rice coming up."

"Thanks Percy."

She steps through the bulkhead hatch into the cafeteria, seeing the grills come online and pots being filled with water, and ventures into the back where the cryogenic freezer was stored grabbing herself an apple and pear. She heads over to the drinks dispenser and got a cup of ice water before heading out to the tables, setting the fruits and water down, and come back to the kitchen just as the single cut of moa and a small bowl of steamed rice were ready. She grabs a metal tray from the serving counter and a fork before going in to pick up her meal, first setting the cooked steak in the central portion of the tray before picking up the bowl and placing it on the side. Soon she returned to her spot at the tables and began to eat, enjoying the freshly made meal.

As moments of silence passed by, Ahsoka began to ponder about the Spartans, both from ancient Greece and the modern day SPARTANs, what worried her the most was the fact that the ancient Spartans practically conscripted young children into military service, training them to become lethal killers. She takes a spoonful of rice and began to wonder if this 'Halsey' took a little too much inspiration from the Greeks and pulled off the same tactic, it would explain how James and Jorge became extremely efficient soldiers regardless of what enemy they fought, droids, Covenant, even proving to hold their own against force sensitives was impressive enough. The more she thought on the matter, the more things began to make sense, the scars all over James's back looked like they've been done ages ago and yet he two months ago he claimed he was twenty two despite stating he spent half of his life in cryogenic stasis.

'Why would they lie to me?' she thought.

Suddenly her train of thought was lost when Percival chimed in stating "Miss Tano, I believe I have some news for you regarding the war.

She decided to dwell on her thoughts later and ask "What is it Percival?"

"As of one hour ago, General Grievous is classified KIA on Utapau at the hands of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Right now news of his death is spreading throughout the galaxy."

Ahsoka stopped herself, immediately halting the motion of feeding herself another bite of steak "Grievous is dead?"

"I looked over various reports on the Holonet, it's been confirmed."

She couldn't help but begin to feel proud for Obi-Wan, with Grievous gone the separatist movements will be severely crippled, but suddenly her feeling of pride was washed away by a nauseating sensation, her head began to spin accompanied by a debilitating headache.

"Ahsoka? Your vitals are acting abnormally, are you alright?" Percival asks alarmed.

"Something's . . . wrong" she muttered as she tried to get up from her seat.

However she fell to her knees, she sensed a great loss in the Force, something she would feel when a Jedi has died but this was on a much larger scale.

The AI reports "I'm notifying the others immediately."

[Outer hull]

The SPARTANs had just finished up repairs on the breached portion of the ship, not exactly back to its original state but it was approved by Percival for slipspace travel.

They were already being processed through the nearest airlock on deck eight, the two were chuckling about a past memory they shared together when Percival immediately alerted them "James, Jorge. Something's happened."

The two stopped with Jorge asking "What do you mean Percival?"

"Something is wrong with Ahsoka, she's in the cafeteria on deck fifteen."

James immediately sprang into action "Let's go Jorge!" and sprinted down the hall with his partner close behind.

It was a matter of minutes before they reached the lift, which was already present to take them up, curtesy of the AI, the two climbed aboard and began to ascend to the upper levels.

Percival begins to inform them "Ahsoka Tano was in the cafeteria eating what she normally has when I informed her of Grievous's demise on Utapau."

Longarm was surprised to hear that the general was dead, but he allowed the AI to continue without pause "At first she seemed quite proud, but then her vitals began to display erratic behavior, signs of nausea and dizziness were the most evident."

James then steps in "We'll need to get her to the med-bay on deck seven. Percival I need MRIs on standby when we get there, figure out what's happening."

"Of course, it'll be ready when you arrive."

The lift came to a stop on fifteen, the two SPARTANs began to rush off when Percival stops them "Wait- I'm picking up massive activity on the Holonet . . . James you might want to come see this."

Longarm pointed to Jorge "Go! Get Ahsoka down to medical!", as Jorge nods and sprints away, he turns around and steps back onto the lift stating "I'm on my way Percival."

It wasn't long until the SPARTAN-ll reached the command bridge, stepping through the bulkhead hatch in time to see a hologram of an aged hooded figure giving a speech, he only arrived to hear a part of a statement _"__\- the hatred in their hearts could not be hidden forever. At last, there came a day when our enemies showed their true natures_."

James asks calmly "Percival, who is that?"

"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic . . . this transmission is being broadcasted throughout all known channels in the entire galaxy."

"What's going on?"

"I think it's better if you hear for yourself."

The two returned their attention to the Chancellor's speech "_But the aims of would-be tyrants were valiantly opposed by those without elitist, dangerous powers. Our loyal clone troopers contained the insurrection within the Jedi Temple and quelled uprisings on a thousand worlds_."

"An insurrection at the Temple?" the SPARTAN muttered with confusion.

"_The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated! Any collaborators will suffer the same fate_."

"What?" he then asks surprised by what Palpatine was saying.

"_These have been trying times, but we have passed the test. The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger!_"

Percival interrupts reporting "James, I'm intercepting multiple reports of clone troops executing their Jedi officers on multiple fronts . . . on the bases of treason by the Jedi. I even found reports of an invasion on the temple itself on Coruscant."

"Something's not right . . ." the SPARTAN muttered beneath his breath.

"_We stand on the threshold of a new beginning. In order to ensure security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized, into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for ten thousand years! An Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body and a sovereign ruler chosen for life. An Empire ruled by the majority, ruled by a new constitution!_"

The two continued to listen carefully "_By bringing the entire galaxy under one law, one language, and the enlightened guidance of one individual, the corruption that plagued the Republic in its later years will never take root. Regional governors will eliminate the bureaucracy that allowed the Separatist movement to grow unchecked. A strong and growing military will ensure the rule of law._"

Jorge soon appeared on the bridge reporting "She's a little out of it but she'll recover soon . . ." he then spots the hooded hologram "What's happening?"

Longarm answered in a lowly disappointed tone, directed towards the self-proclaimed Emperor's speech, "A declaration of a new order . . . an empire."

"_-will give no grounds to our enemies and will stand together against attacks within or without. Let the enemies of the Empire take heed: those who challenge Imperial resolve will be crushed!_"

"This doesn't sound too good at all . . ." the Jorge remarked as he listened.

"No it isn't, Republic troops all across the galaxy are killing off their Jedi officers, all for this new Empire . . ." James replied.

"Wait, isn't Ahsoka one of the Jedi?"

"Unfortunately yes . . ."

Ahsoka finally arrived to the bridge, albeit weakly and somewhat disoriented from her episode, Jorge walked over to her and offered to help her to a seat however she declined and stepped up to the holotable with James and Percival "Something horribly wrong is happening . . . I can feel the darkness growing . . ." she states with some fear in her voice.

Longarm informs her "I'm sorry Ahsoka, but Percival received reports that Republic troops are turning against the Jedi, executing them on the spot for treason."

"What!? The Jedi Order would never betray the Republic! "

"I know, there's also been reports that troops invaded the temple on Coruscant."

"No! We have to go help them!"

Percival however argues "It will take us three days to reach Coruscant, it will be too late before we arrive."

"Even if we don't make it in time, there might still be survivors! We have to get there as soon as possible!"

Jorge raises another problem "It's going to be in the heart of enemy territory. They'll be all over us the moment we come out of slipspace."

A moment of silence overcame them all, with Palpatine's voice continuing "_-citizens must do their part. Join our grand star fleet. Become the eyes of the Empire by reporting suspected insurrectionists. Travel to the corners of the galaxy to spread the principles of the New Order to barbarians. Build monuments and technical wonders that will speak of our glory for generations to come. _

_The clone troopers, now proudly wearing the name of Imperial stormtroopers, have tackled the dangerous work of fighting our enemies on the front lines. Many have died in their devotion to the Empire. Imperial citizens would do well to remember their example._"

Ahsoka turns to her trusted friend "James please . . . we have to go. We can still save them."

Longarm was conflicted within, he knew for Ahsoka's sake they needed to head to the temple in search of survivors but that would mean putting the _Vanguard_ in extreme danger, losing the ship would be a devastating, if not lethal blow to their efforts to survive and combat the Covenant. But she raised a valid point, if there are indeed survivors by the time they arrive then it is their duty to rescue as many Jedi as possible.

Jorge noticed he was in deep thought and argued "Brother, we're walking into something much bigger than the Clone Wars . . . it'll be us against an entire empire . . ."

"If we don't go to rescue them then we're no better than the Empire Jorge . . ." she states.

The two then turned to James once more, Percival was the one to ask "Orders SPARTAN?"

Moments later and finally he orders "You heard her Percival, set course for Coruscant" he then turns his attention to the two "This has officially become a UNSC Search and Rescue operation, we'll need a plan worked out before we arrive."

Everyone complied in acknowledgement, Ahsoka was proud while Jorge trusted his friend enough to know what he is doing, while the _Vanguard_ corrected its course and jumped into slipspace towards the heart of Imperial control, all the while Palpatine slowly draws his speech to a close "_We have been tested, but we have emerged stronger. We move forward as one people: the Imperial citizens of the Galactic Empire. We will prevail. Ten thousand years of peace begins!_"

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	30. A new fight

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 30**

**"****A new fight"**

[Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Landing pad]

In the waning hours of Operation: Knightfall, the newly anointed dark lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, waited silently on one of the temple's landing pad, situated along one of the four towers, for his master's arrival. Clone troops of the 501st Legion continued to battle what remained of the Jedi and Temple Security Force throughout the temple, casualties were high on both sides, and they were winning.

Vader could see his master's shuttle appearing in the distance when a clone sergeant walked up next to him and relayed his report "My Lord, the Jedi have been routed and are fleeing into the temple precinct, we've set up troops around all exits and hangars to prevent anyone else from escaping."

"Good. Where's Commander Appo?" the sith asked.

"He was wounded after engaging a Jedi on one of the lower pads; he was turning away a senator before he was attacked."

Vader took a moment to think before giving his next order "Send word out to the men; tell them to begin coordinating with the Coruscanti Guard in hunting down the traitors that fled."

"Right away my Lord" the trooper acknowledged before jogging off to relay the order.

The shuttle was now slowing down as it was making its final approach to the pad, the downward wings began to fold upwards and the landing struts extended from the craft's underbelly, and lands softly in front of him. The boarding ramp lowers from the underside with an ominous hiss, once the ramp touched the ground with a metallic clang six troopers of the newly reorganized Shock Trooper Corps, ordained by red markings on their plastoid armor, marched off the transport and formed two lines on both sides. Moments afterwards a lone hooded figure, dressed in black clothing, treaded off the ramp and came forth before Vader, who bowed down afterwards.

"My master, the Jedi is nearly extinct, now they flee from the temple with my troops in pursuit."

The Sith master, Darth Sidious, made a crackling smile as he praised his apprentice's accomplishment "You have done well my apprentice, soon the Jedi will be no more and we will finally bring order to the galaxy. However there is more work to be done before our dreams become a reality."

"What is thy bidding my master?"

"The Separatist leaders are gathering on Mustafar in the outer rim, you will go there and dispatch them. Leave none alive. With their deaths the separatist movement will grind to a halt."

"It will be done my master."

"You have done well my apprentice, now Lord Vader, go and bring peace to the Empire."

Vader nodded to his master's request and began making his way back into the temple to reach another pad where his fighter would be waiting for him. But he stopped shortly; Sidious could sense something troubling him.

"Your mind is not at rest . . . tell me Vader, what is troubling you?"

"Master forgive me, but, I sense there is a much graver threat to the Empire, something far more aggressive than the Jedi."

The high Sith lord realized what his apprentice was referring to "Ah yes the ship you've encountered during the Battle of the Null Sector, the _Vanguard_ and its single resident that calls himself a Spartan . . ."

"And the padawan of Anakin Skywalker, she is in league with him."

"Then they are both traitors to the Empire and will be dealt with accordingly. Do not fear, my friend, soon they too will be crushed by our might, it is only a matter of time."

Vader bowed his head "Yes Master" and resumed making his way.

With Darth Vader now absent, Sidious watched the temple around him burn and bellow smoke into the night sky, it was everything he had foreseen and more, it was everything he had ever dreamed of.

"Everything is proceeding as planned by my design . . ." he took a moment to savior this "I have waited a long time for this."

[Slipstream Space, _UNSC Vanguard_, two days later]

Aboard the bridge, Ahsoka Tano sat glumly in an operator seat meant for monitoring terminals while the two SPARTANs stood around the holotable that projected a list of Jedi that were killed during what was known came to be known as Order 66, the casualties were high.

James's mind read out each name that came with a corresponding picture of the individual '_Stass Allie, Cin Drallig, Ki-Adi Mundi, Sian Jeisel, Du Mahn, Aayla Secura, Jocasta Nu, Serra Kota, Etain Tur-Mukan, Saras Loorne_' the list kept going without pause.

Every name, every face, he didn't recognize but as each one passed his eyes he felt that each and one of their deaths were somehow his responsibility, a feeling perhaps he adopted to fill the absence of safeguarding civilians of UEG worlds, from the wisest of masters to the youngest of children were listed in front of him, the chances of finding survivors in the temple were very slim.

Jorge sighed in sorrow and misunderstanding "How? How could someone do this? It's practically genocide."

"I don't know Jorge . . ." James replied as he stares at every name passing by, eventually he asks "Percival . . . what's the body count?"

"Too high" the AI responded, feeling the same way as everyone else.

Ahsoka eventually stood from her seat and walked over to the table, she was taking the losses the hardest given that she knew half of these people, some were mentors and friends.

Longarm notices her glare, the hurt-filled expression on her face, and states solemnly "Ahsoka I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but we need you to help us plan our move. You know the temple better than any of us."

"Yeah . . . right" she answered back almost knocked out of a trans the list had put over her.

But before they could start making plans, her eye caught a name on the list and immediately called out "Wait, Percy go back . . ." her heart stopped.

The AI complied and rewinds list until she spotted what she feared the worst, one of her closest friend's name, Jedi Master Plo Koon.

"No . . ." she muttered, her heart shattered at that moment, tears began to swell in her eyes but she fought hard to keep her feelings down, she was losing.

The SPARTANs immediately showed concern, in a tactical sense their friend has been emotionally compromised and is therefore an unreliable asset to their rescue efforts, James restrained himself from trying to put a hand on her, fearing any attempt to comfort her would cause an emotional outbreak.

All he could say was "Ahsoka . . . I'm sorry. If you need a moment . . ."

Tano shook her head in disagreement "No . . . you need me to help plan-" she began to choke up but she held on "How did he die?"

Percival took a moment to find the reports "Official documents reports he was shot down in his fighter over Cato Neimoidia in an attempted suicidal terrorist attack on a neimoidian grub nursery."

The young togruta then went into an outrage "What? No he would never do that! He wouldn't!"

"Hey, look at me" the SPARTAN ordered, his voice was calm and gentle.

Ahsoka turned her eyes to his gold visor, he assured her "We'll take care of the planning, go."

Tano wanted to argue but there was no point, the SPARTANs were deeply concerned for her emotional and mental state of mind and this could hamper their efforts, she nods silently in agreement and slowly walks off the bridge. The two super soldiers knew that this was going to be their hardest challenge yet, and they feared things were just getting started.

"Percival, bring up the Temple" Longarm requested.

There was no response but the list of names immediately dissipated and a large ziggurat-like structure with five towers extending from the top was constructed in front of them, Percival explains "This is the Jedi Temple located on Coruscant, sitting uncomfortably close to the now Imperial Senate Rotunda and the Imperial Palace. From what I was able to gather from external references, the Temple has several points of entries, from the hangars at the lower levels and the four symmetric towers to the main entrance, the central tower is where the Jedi high masters conducted their council meetings which could signify some importance there."

"What about interior?"

"Unfortunately there are no current records of the interior architecture, no telling what kind of combat you'll be facing if you were spotted by imperial troops."

"I suppose that's where Ahsoka comes in . . ."

"That is correct."

"Well" he sighs "We'll discuss that when she's ready. But for now let's talk about a method of entry."

[Elevator lift]

Ahsoka was devastated, her heart was torn from her chest the moment she saw one of her closest friend's name on that dreadful list, she on the verge of breaking down into tears. The elevator lift was gradually making its decent down to the deck where she lived on, just several levels below the command deck, where everyone else lives on, until it arrived and allowed her to walk off. She treaded silently through the empty corridors pondering about the possibility of being the last of the Jedi, her friends, mentors, and even her own master may have suffered the same horrible fate.

She continued to walk the halls in silence, not even Percival spoke a word, perhaps to give her time alone, and she appreciated it for the time being. Despite her overwhelming sorrow in her heart she was glad to know she wasn't alone, the AI, Jorge, and James were there for her no matter what. They could've refused a rescue operation to the Temple just to save themselves, but they agreed, not to just avenge the Jedi that showed friendliness to them, they agreed to help for her, someone who's been there for them they first met whether it was inside of an apartment complex or aboard a Covenant warship. She was fortunate to call them friends.

She was beginning to near her quarters, which was further down the hall, when she came across James's quarters, she stopped and carefully took a good look at the door itself. The SPARTANs' quarters was one of the very few places she's been in aboard the _Vanguard_ and despite being somewhat open to her there is still a lot she doesn't know about James. She sobers up, wiping away the tears that dripped from her eyes, and presses a button on the keypad situated on the door causing it to swish open.

She silently walks in to find the room to be clean and organized, something she expected, there was nothing to note of it other than a table where his Mk. V EOD helmet rested along with some hand tools, presumably repairing the helmet in his spare time, and a cabinet sitting next to another table holding his terminal. She decides to step over and sit down in a seat and turn the terminal on, at first she was expecting Percival to appear and warn her about invading privacy but he never showed, and instead of the traditional UNSC insignia appearing like other terminals a background cover of a massive, immaculate super metropolis spanning out for miles and miles with no end, skyscrapers reaching for the skies, and a single massive spire that reached all the way to the stars. Feeling that Percival would quickly discover her soon enough she switched the terminal off.

She stood up from her seat and took a look at the cabinet, opening them to find nothing until she reached the middle drawer and found a book, small, old, torn at the edges as if it's been through quite a bit of history, and had a thin string tied around it to keep it from opening. She gently takes the book into her hands, feeling the brown leather covering that protected the pages inside, and unties the knot before carefully opening it to the first page.

She was expecting to see writing, possibly a log of the _Vanguard's_ history in this galaxy, but she found something else entirely "Drawings?" she muttered.

The first drawing was that of children playing in a city park, parents stood by watching them with warm smiles, she seemed to smile herself seeing the joy that was put into this artistic work done only by a lead pencil. She began to flip through the drawings, each with a sense of peace in them, until she stopped on a page that showed a different side of things. The drawing she came across depicted a clear sky with large shady objects looming high above the surface, each looking smooth and organic much like the Covenant corvette they encountered. The next drawing showed a city burning with another one of the large ships hanging over it, emitting a beam of light down into the streets below, she was witnessing the beginnings of the Human-Covenant War through James's drawings.

She continue to flip through the pages, soldiers fighting, dying, cities burning, even entire worlds with religious glyphs burned into the surfaces, human, Covenant, all part of a massive war that decides the fate of a species. Some of the drawings were rather graphic and full of depression, bodies lying in streets, Covenant standing victorious over the bodies of human soldiers; she was almost tempted to put the book away, when things took another turn.

A detailed drawing, evidently recent given that age hasn't taken a toll like the others, of her smiling at him. She was surprised by how much work he put into this page alone, almost as if she was looking into a mirror, and she gave a gentle grin herself as she turns to the next page. The next drawing depicted her wielding her two sabers in her unique reversal style posture with James himself standing behind her, towering over her due to his height advantage, armed with a sniper rifle in an alert stance. She couldn't help but feel that she and the SPARTAN were beginning to become close, what else would the drawing have told her?

She flips over another page, this time showing her, James, and Jorge standing side by side atop a ridge overlooking a vast peaceful field, the sun hung high over the horizon in front of them, and at the bottom right corner of the page was a single word that was on the SPARTAN-ll's mind at the time of the drawing:

_Hope?_

She grinned, knowing she had done something to restore some faith into the super soldier. She turns over to the next page to find it blank, the next one after that was blank as well, eventually she closes the book and ties the string back around it before returning it back into the cabinet. Her mind couldn't help but bring back the gut-wrenching loss of her beloved friend, Plo Koon, but her heart was somewhat at ease after seeing some of the more pleasant drawings in the SPARTAN's book.

After her grieving over her loss she felt she wasn't quite ready to rejoin the others on the bridge, instead she lies down on the SPARTAN's well-made bed which hasn't been used for at least a few days now, and closes her eyes to rest for a little while, just long enough where she would be able to function like her old self.

[Bridge, two hours later]

Longarm finishes briefing Jorge on the final steps in the operation as he pointed towards a section of the temple before them "Once I've secured the survivors we'll make our way to one of the western landing platforms where you'll be on standby ready to get us out."

"Sounds easy enough" Jorge muttered as he watched the holographic simulation.

Percival adds "And by the time you return home, our FTL drive should be already spooled up to jump us away, giving the Imperials no chance to intercept us with their cruisers."

"Strike crafts shouldn't be a problem right Percival?" James asks with concern.

"They are superior compare to the Sabre but they're no Covenant fighters, I should be able to hold them off long enough for you all to return safely, I will even deploy the wombats to secure your route."

But Jorge assures the AI "That won't be necessary Percival, I can handle a pelican."

"As you wish" Percival nodded.

Not moments later did the bulkhead hatch slide open letting the now calm and collected Ahsoka Tano back onto the bridge, the SPARTANs gave their respectful nods to the togruta, and Jorge was the first to ask "How are you feeling ma'am?"

"I could be better Jorge. But I will be soon after this mission. Speaking of which how goes the progress?"

James answered "We just finished on the briefing, we were actually waiting for you to help give us an idea of what we're dealing with inside the temple."

"Ok so what's the plan?"

The SPARTAN twirled his finger towards the AI "Percival run through the simulation again."

Percival complied, the holographic presentation of the temple was quickly replaced with the entire temple district and surrounding areas, kilometers wide, and James began "We will be exiting out of slipspace at o' ten hundred hours tomorrow within the planet's lower mesosphere here."

As he pointed out to the area high above the temple, the _Vanguard_ materialized into view just as he stated, "Once we've made a successful drop out, I'll make a high altitude insertion from the _Vanguard_ down to the temple."

Ahsoka quickly interrupted "How are you going to do that?"

Percival chimed in "We do have a small detachment of SOEIV drop pods onboard, but SPARTAN James has an alternative approach."

Tano glanced over to the two SPARTANs, switching back to and fro until Jorge answered "He's going to jump."

She then turned to Longarm "You're serious? That has to be at least fifty kilometers up, how do you expect to land without breaking something?"

"MJOLNIR armor has the ability to solidify the hydrostatic gel layer to a hardened state called the Lock-Down System capable of withstanding high impacts, I'll be safe."

"Okay . . . well what am I going to do?"

"You'll stay here and provide mission support, guide me through the temple and alert me of any complications."

"What!? No! I'm coming with you! I can help you find survivors, these people are friends to me! Family even!"

But the SPARTAN put his foot down on this "No" he demanded firmly "You'll be a high priority target to the Empire, if word gets out that you're there, they'll be swarming the temple and neither of us will be able to get out. "

Ahsoka was about to argue but James sighed "If the worst outcome is a reality, then you need to be the one to carry the torch for the Jedi Order."

And that stopped her, she made no back talks or arguments afterwards, he continues with the briefing "Once I exit the _Vanguard_, the ship will make an immediate jump out to clear away from any Imperial cruisers that will be on an intercept course to engage."

"What makes you think they'll want to attack?"

"If a heavily armed unidentified warship just suddenly appears on your front door, what would you do?"

"Point made."

He resumes his briefing "I'll make landfall somewhere along the rooftop of the temple and proceed to infiltrate. That's when I'll need you to guide me through. I'll try and make a thorough search of the temple to find any survivors, when either I've completed my search or our operation has somehow been compromised I'll contact the ship to arrive and we'll make our way to one of the western landing platforms along the ziggurat where Jorge will be waiting to extract us via pelican."

He raises his finger back into the sky above the temple "By that time the _Vanguard_ will most likely be already engaged by small fighters and possibly corvettes but hopefully the cruisers will still be out of range. With the destroyer keeping the skies clear for the meantime the pelican will return back into the hangar and dock. Afterwards we'll make several randomly calculated jumps through slipspace to make sure they won't follow us."

"Well you certainly put quite a bit into it, I'm impressed. But while I was thinking about some things, I believe we have another objective."

James's attention was certainly undivided "Such as?"

"The Jedi Archive inside the temple is home to the holocron vault, a place where only members of the Jedi Council were permitted to enter, we need to make sure they don't fall into Imperial hands."

"So we're talking about asset denial?"

Jorge asked out of the blue "A holocron?"

Ahsoka answered "It's a data storage device that is only activated by the Force who has a kyber crystal. If we can get our hands on some of those holocrons-"

"We'll be denying the Empire potentially vital information" Longarm adds "Alright consider that part of the plan. But now comes the final part of the ordeal, what can we expect inside the temple, how large are the rooms and hallways, are there any potential security systems to watch out for?"

"The rooms and hallways are wide and open so don't expect close quarts much, it's likely the Temple's security were taken down after the invasion, and it's also very likely you'll be seeing clone troopers guarding and patrolling the building."

"I've fought Covenant and droids, both of which doesn't offer much of a challenge, but what are these clones capable of? Surely you fought alongside them during the war."

"They were trained from birth, given the best training and equipment they'll ever have. Plastoid armor, blaster rifles, advanced training and tactics, they may be the kind of challenge your looking for."

"Let's hope not. But thanks to you it looks like I'll be utilizing short to mid-range weaponry to push through. Is there anything else to add?"

Everyone looked to each other, waiting for a response to come out, but no one said a word.

"Alright then, we have our objectives, Percival how long before we drop out?"

"Approximately eleven hours before the operation begins, I suggest a six hour rest period before making preparations, I will notify all of you when it is time."

Jorge nodded "A little shut eye wouldn't hurt, besides this'll be the last time we get to sleep with the ship to ourselves."

Longarm added "I agree. I'll be in my quarters" and began to head off the bridge afterwards.

Jorge looked over to Ahsoka "It's funny don't you think?"

"Think what?" she asked perplexed.

"That after two months of knowing each other, you two are there for one another as if you've known each other since childhood. The James I used to know would've put the ship ahead of the survivors in this case, I guessed you changed him."

"Huh that is weird I guess. But you know, I think he changed me as well . . ."

"Hmm. Right well then would you like to accompany me to the cafeteria?" Jorge grinned with his grizzled face.

"Sure" she replied with a similar expression.

[Cafeteria]

Jorge-052 and Ahsoka ate silently with one another, eating what Percival had prepared for them, as they sat next to each other.

Ahsoka took another spoonful of rice before she asked "So you fought with James through the war, what was he like?"

"During the war? Well he was normally silent and often wanted to work alone, I think he sees himself as a lone assassin with a long reach. Some SPARTANs saw respect in that, others didn't."

"Yeah, James told me about the fights he had with someone named John."

Jorge chuckled "Yeah hehe, those two were always butting heads with one another, normally it break out into a fight. Anyways he's respectful of others, even to men that were assigned under his command, putting himself in the line of fire to save a fellow marine or shock trooper. He also had a lot of interest and respect towards the elites, despite them trying to kill him at every opportunity, he was fond of their lifestyle and ideals of honor and tradition."

"How so?"

"The elites are a strong species, taking pride in their sense of honor, if you were a marine surrounded by these guys armed to the teeth, if you throw your gun aside and raise a fist or a knife. You can bet that some of them are going to do the same. I guess that's why James always liked them. He even took training courses to learn and speak their language."

"Really?"

"Yeah well he doesn't use it often, only when he's facing off with one of them as a way of showing respect to them."

Jorge fell silent afterwards, eating some more, while Ahsoka did the same, thinking about James and his life, but then she remembered a while ago on a matter that disturbed her quite a lot "Do you think James was forced into the SPARTAN program when he was a kid?"

The big man stopped, his spoon was halfway to his mouth when it froze, "Ma'am?" he asks.

She continues "It doesn't make sense, I've learned about the Spartans of Greece and they supposedly forced their children to become soldiers. I've seen the scars across his body, they looked like they were done a long time ago but he's only twenty two years old excluding his time in cryogenic stasis. He also looked . . . hurt whenever I want to know more about the program. I think he and Percival are lying about the program to keep something a secret."

"And you're sharing this with me why?"

"Because you're one of his closest friends, and a SPARTAN like him. You weren't forced into the program were you?"

"No I don't reckon I was. I was in the ODSTs when I joined just like James."

"But something just doesn't seem right . . ." she replied, unsure of what she was getting into.

"Listen, let's just worry about one thing at a time, first the temple. Then we'll figure out our next step. If you want, go talk to James or Percival about this. They'll tell you the same thing."

Ahsoka thought silently about it then replied with a nod "I think I will" and stood up with her empty tray before walking away.

[James's Quarters, twenty minutes later]

SPARTAN-121 was tending to his damaged Mk. V EOD helmet, carefully rewiring the circuitry with a pen-shaped wielder. He has high hopes that his Mk. V would be brought back into operational status soon, he even thought of a way to repair the armor and bodysuit but unfortunately with the tools and resources he has at his disposal the suit will never be brought back to optimum capacity like it was when he first received it. However he would be able to repair the helmet and armored components back to functioning order though it would take time.

He was finishing rewiring the helmet's HUD sub-routines when he heard a light knocking on his door, he sets the wielder down and stood up from his seat before walking over to the door and press the switch.

The door slid open and Ahsoka was found on the other side, she seemed troubled, "Is something wrong Ahsoka?" he asked with concern.

"We need to talk . . ." she answered strongly.

He wasn't sure what was going on but he steps aside and gestured her to come inside. She does so and sits down on his cot finding the Mk. lV helmet next to her, while he goes back to his seat at the table with his Mk. V helmet and resumes repairs.

"Is this about the operation?" he asks as he begins working on comms unit relay in the helmet.

"No, the operation isn't the problem" she answered.

"Then what's the problem?"

"You."

The SPARTAN stopped; he sets the wielder down and turns to her asking "Me?"

"Ever since we've met on Coruscant you've been hiding something from me, something you're not telling me about yourself, I think I figured it out."

"Really?" he asks "Okay shoot."

She picks up the green helmet next to her, feeling the weight and examining the finer details, "You didn't join the SPARTAN-ll Program, you were forced into it when you were a child. Wanna know how I figured it out?"

"Enlighten me."

"It started when Percy taught me about the original Spartans of Ancient Greece, how they fought bravely and served their king well. He also told me that the soldiers were trained from when they were young children, forced to become a soldier and expected to die for their king no matter what. I began to wonder if Doctor Halsey took some inspiration from it and did the same with you and the others. Second was when I saw your scars, all old and faded as if they were doing ages ago, but then I remembered that you were only twenty two as of now. You also seemed hurt and distant about the subject, never wanting to really talk about it unless I asked."

Longarm sat silently listening to her explanation "So I really think you were actually forced into the Program against your will, you were never an ODST or even a soldier as of matter. You were just a child, young and afraid, and they changed you into this."

She ceased talking and waited for a response from him, he sighed "That's certainly a lot to think about, but there's somethings you don't know."

"Like what?"

"First off the scars, yes augmentation was probably the worst pain I've ever endured. But our augmentations had given us not only superior strength, speed, and intellect, but also enhanced regenerative abilities. The blood in our systems works faster, sealing up any wounds we sustain in combat or other means. The scars you saw were more recent than you think, but it was because of this ability that it looks old and faded, it only took weeks for our wounds to heal."

"So you're still recovering from it?"

"In a way yes."

"Okay . . . so why don't you want to talk about it? It seemed like it was the worst part of your life."

"People make friends faster than one would normally expect, it's hard to think about losing some of them in such painful ways. The augmentations killed a lot of those people who had friends. It's something us SPARTANs rarely talked about."

"So if this was all true, then why did you do it? Why would you throw away who you are just to become some weapon?"

"For some of us, we saw it as a new beginning, a new slate. Others had their reasons to join as well."

"What was yours?"

The SPARTAN thought silently for a moment "I suppose I wanted to keep people safe from harm, it helps me to know they're sleeping at night with us to protect him. And when we made contact with the Covenant, I realized that this was what I was meant to be. A SPARTAN, humanity's last line defense standing between them and extinction."

Ahsoka didn't know what to think, she was sure about her theory but he seemed so sincere, that he actually became part of the SPARTANs at his own will. She had question in mind but they were dashed away by his words. She believed him.

"Alright . . . I'm sorry I bothered you. It just didn't feel right, you understand?"

"Of course, you had a feeling and you acted on it. It's what kept us SPARTANs in the fight for so long. "

The two fell silent afterwards, James turned back to his helmet and resumed repairs, Ahsoka watched as he taps the tip of the wielder against the helmet and emit a small spark as wirings are fused back together. She eventually lies down, with no objection from the SPARTAN, and closed her eyes once more.

[Armory, ten hours later]

Longarm was by now arming up for the operation, the first weapon he took was the energy sword he latched onto his left thigh magnetic strip. The next was a M7 SMG; he grabs the gun and attaches a sixty-round magazine to the side receiver and pulls the charging bolt, loading the first round into the chamber, and set it on his right thigh.

Jorge walks in through the main hatch and saw his fellow SPARTAN gearing up "You're expecting trouble down there?"

"We always expect trouble Jorge, we're SPARTANs remember?" James replied as he walked over to the assortment of rifles.

"You've fought alongside the clones for a time, you know what they're capable of."

"You're right I do, but if some clones were enough to kill a Jedi then I'm not taking chances."

James was debating whether to take the compact BR55 or go with the more powerful M392 Designated Marksman Rifle, his personal favorite next to the SRS-99, eventually he takes DMR.

"Where's Ahsoka?" he asks.

"Up on the bridge, about to get ready for the op."

"Hm" he muttered as he grabs an empty magazine and begins loading it with 7.62x51mm FMJ-AP rounds, fifteen rounds per mag.

After loading four separate magazines he gently inserts three into the ammunition pouches he attached to his chest piece, slams the fourth into the rifle, pulling the bolt, and latches it onto his back. He then silently walks over to another rack and pulls out a M90 CAWS Combat Shotgun, a weapon well known and widely used within the UNSC, and begins to load the Soellkraft eight-gauge magnum shells into the top-sided receiver, twelve rounds into the magazine tube before pumping the weapon, loading one shell into the chamber, and insert a thirteenth into the tube.

"You're expecting more than trouble" Jorge comments as James slaps the shotgun onto his back alongside the DMR.

"I expect the clones to put up a good fight, it wouldn't be fair if I held back don't you think?"

"No I suppose not."

Longarm finally grabs a M6G magnum from another rack, inserting a pre-loaded magazine into the feed and holster it into a tailored made holster on his right pec.

After that he begins to make his way out of the armory alongside Jorge but before the two parted their separate ways Jorge spoke "Good luck down there."

James nodded to that with a grin and walked away.

[Ventral Hangar, fifteen minutes later]

Longarm stood silently, a UNSC duffel bag slung around his right shoulder and his arms crossed, as he waited patiently for the _Vanguard _to exit slipspace over Coruscant, there's been no word from the bridge but he didn't worry. He waited silently for another thirty minutes when Percival's voice finally crackled through.

"We're just entering the system now, ETA one minute to target."

James made no response, instead he began to get into position in the middle of the hangar, Ahsoka's voice then came through "The holocron vault will most likely be the most heavily guarded area of the temple, you'll need to deal with the clones before getting in there. But please, if you do find anybody down there . . ."

The SPARTAN stood silently for the moment before he answered "I'll bring them home."

Percival's voice immediately reported afterwards "Commencing slipstream exit procedures, drop out in ten."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	31. Operation: Dunkirk

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 31**

**"****Operation: Dunkirk"**

[_UNSC Vanguard_, Ventral Hangar bay]

"Seven . . ." Percival counted.

Longarm got into position, ten meters from the hangar door, ready to break into a sprint. His eyes quickly skimmed across his HUD ensuring everything was functioning, shields, weapons, motion tracker, grenade count, and an altimeter to his lower right corner.

"Six . . . five . . ."

The SPARTAN centered his eyes on the door ahead of him, waiting for the door to slide open, and felt the ship underneath him tremble as it exits Slipstream Space over the designated target.

"Four . . . three . . ."

Ahsoka's last words on the ship to him were "Good luck and stay safe . . ."

"Two . . . One . . ."

The hangar unlatched the inner locking mechanism and begun to slide open with a loud mechanical whine, air violently rushing outwards as it is sucked into the oxygen sparse mesosphere. He immediately breaks into a dead sprint, kicking his muscles into high gear, with the air rushing behind him he was able to reach an astonishing sixty one kilometers an hour, almost surpassing Kelly-087's top speed. He rapidly closed in on the hangar exit until he took one large step forward and dove out the hangar, the plant-wide metropolis appeared below him, commercial ships blanketed the skies beneath him.

His altimeter immediately displayed the height [49,921m] and it was declining at an alarming rate. He positioned himself into a head first freefall allowing him to see the skylanes that populated Coruscant's skies and the small square that was his target, the Jedi Temple.

His EVA thrusters kept him on course with small controlled bursts; he finally spoke into his helmet "Comms check."

"Comms are green" Percival reported.

"Vanguard Actual online" Jorge checked in.

"SPARTAN Longarm online" he adds.

The falling SPARTAN kept his body small and straight, an effort to control his descent, and states "I have visual on target, forty five klicks out and closing."

"_Vanguard_ is away, we've detected a sudden mobilization of strike craft but they shouldn't present a threat" Percival reports.

As the AI stated that a squadron of three ARC-170 Starfighters accompanied by two Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-Wing Starfighters flew past the SPARTAN to intercept the destroyer, too fast for the clone pilots to notice the green blur that past them "Yeah I just saw the welcoming committee, they seemed nice."

He continued to stay on course, falling at a rapid rate, when he glanced at his altimeter which read [38,753m]. By this point he was beginning to break through the clouds the hung high over the surface, the moment he passed through the clouds he spots an imperialized Venator-class Star Destroyer maintaining a low altitude of at least two kilometers from the surface and keeping a distance of one kilometer from the temple.

"Vanguard Actual be advised I have visual on one ISD stationed close to the primary target, prioritizing it as primary target for fire mission."

Percival responded "Acknowledged. Move on with the mission and proceed with caution."

"Will-co."

The SPARTAN continue to remain on course, gently adjusting his trajectory through his EVA boosters, until he was beginning to close in on one of the skylanes that flew high above the temple precinct, filled with small speeders and commercial freighters. The center of his HUD blinked red with a display of words [WARNING: COLLISION IMMINENT! DEVIATE FROM CURRENT COURSE!] But Longarm remained on course, tending to fall right through the lanes and land at the designated location.

The first lane was coming up fast, he could begin to hear the roar of speeders flying past with horns blaring in frustration, and he was coming on a collision course with a freighter that was bound to kill him in one blow. He stayed the course until he came within fifteen meters of the point of impact and immediately activated his right booster, jettisoning himself out of harm's way passing the freighter by a meter but nearly coming into contact with another speeder by a margin, evidently frightening the driver inside.

"WAAH BAYA POODOO!" he heard the driver cry out through his audio receptors.

The altimeter read [21,529m] and there was only one more skylane that stood in his way, this one was less populated but still presented a threat to the operation. He closed in and tightened up his formation, causing him to fall like a bomb darting towards the surface and gain velocity, he spots an opening between a series of speeders that were cluttered together and makes that his point of passing. With careful adjustments with his thrusters he was able to get himself on a correct course. He was closing in fast and by just a mere margin he zips through between two speeders, causing more panic among the local population, and was now on a clear path to the temple below him.

He looked down at his altitude [11,058m] and prepared for his final approach, spreading out his arms and legs to catch more atmospheric drag and perform some final adjustments that would ensure his arrival to the temple. Closer examination showed the temple suffered significant structural damage, portions of the temple were cratered, and the northern side of the temple bellowed a massive column of smoke into the morning skies above.

"On final approach, standby for Lock-Down" the SPARTAN reported just as he passed the ten thousand mark on his altimeter.

The rooftop was closing fast and it was time for his entrance, with quick flicks of his eyes he checks to ensure the Lock-Down System was on standby, he waited for a few more moments until he activates the system, the hydrostatic gel layer instantly hardened to a state just before impact. His body slammed into the stone rooftop of the temple, in one of the many plazas that inhabited it, with sheer force that would kill a man three times over, his shields shattered like glass, stone and debris flew about into the air while the ground cracked and crumbled from the blow. Longarm's body remained motionless and frozen hard.

Ahsoka's voice called through the helmet comms "Longarm come in! Are you alright!?"

The SPARTAN disabled the lockdown and his limbs fell limp, he responded out of breath "Yeah . . . I hear you."

He slowly sat up, groaning from the aching pain in his body, and performs a quick weapons check starting with the magnum on his chest. He pulls the sidearm out and pulls the slide; everything was functioning as expected so he slides it back into the holster. Next was the shotgun, bringing it out front and slide the pump which worked flawlessly. Then came the SMG with one pull of the bolt and it was primed. Finally came the DMR, checking the bolt and looking through the scope which was still in good condition. Everything was in order.

His shields recharged just as he stood up on his feet and braced the rifle against his shoulder before checking the immediate area around him for hostiles stating "Operation is go, I repeat operation is go. Proceeding to infil."

"Acknowledged SPARTAN, proceed with caution" Percival responded.

Longarm finishes his scan and moves north, given he landed on the northern part of the rooftop, intending to scale down the walls to the floor where an array of windows was supposedly located. After a four minute jog through the plazas he finds the edge of the temple, he looks down to see that it was a roughly twenty five foot straight drop before it angled outwards towards the bottom, and slaps the rifle onto his back before leaping off. He fell for several seconds until he reached out with his right hand, grasping the ledge of the windows before he could've fallen off, and pulls himself up onto the ledge.

He calls in "Standby" just as he felt the glass window panes, thinking this was too easy, before he cocks his right arm back "Breaching in three . . . two . . ." his fist balls up tight "One . . ." and launches it with heavy force.

His fist crashed into the window causing it to severely crack under pressure, his hand stung with pain as he tries to shake the pain off "Vanguard Actual I'm linking up a live feed, what am I dealing with here?"

A moment of silence passed, the bridge crew waiting for the live feed to come through until it showed on a widescreen in front of them, Ahsoka's voice came through "That's transparisteel, it's much like typical durasteel only weaker. One more hit should do it."

They watched the SPARTAN, through his helmet's onboard camera, ball up his right fist again, cocking his arm back, and send it smashing into the pane, and shattered the glass transparisteel into tiny fragments with a loud crashing sound.

"I'm in" he reports as he climbed through the shattered window frame and take a quick look around, ensuring no foot patrols were nearby.

He gives his hand another shake, relieving the pain, before he reaches for his rifle and begins to venture off through the wide open hallways that were presented before him. He walks through the halls that were once filled with life and grandeur, only to be replaced by silence and blaster marks, he found it weird that there were no bodies to be found but he thought of the possibility that the clones have picked up their dead. It was until he made his first turn that led further into the temple, what he saw next was something he was all too familiar.

"Damn . . ." he muttered.

He could hear Ahsoka's voice, who saw it as well, "Oh no . . ."

Before him laid bodies, more than he could count, belonging to clones and Jedi that littered the hallway.

He knew for Ahsoka's sake he needed to kill the feed, with one blink of his right eye the feed went dead just seconds before Tano demanded "No! Turn the feed back on!"

"Negative . . . I'm Oscar Mike."

The SPARTAN approached the nearest body, a Jedi, and kneels over putting his hand down to the figure's neck, two fingers against the side of the neck, checking for a pulse but the Jedi was long gone. He looks over to the next body several feet away, a clone, and moves over to check. Initial observation tells him the trooper died instantly from a deep slash to his upper chest, tearing and cauterizing the heart and lungs to a smoldering state, but what caught his attention afterwards were the trooper's markings, blue stripes on the torso and helmet, that belonged to the 501st.

Percival heard the SPARTAN sigh deeply and ask "SPARTAN Longarm, report."

James took a moment to try to understand what happened before he responds "I've identified a trooper from the 501st . . ."

Ahsoka was hesitant to ask "Are you sure?"

"Armor configuration matches. It's them."

There was a long silence through the comms, Longarm knew Ahsoka's fear for her former master's safety was now in play, then she ordered "James . . . if you find Anakin down there."

"I'll find him" he assures her "And I'll bring him home."

"Go."

The SPARTAN stood to his feet and resumed marching forward, treading carefully to not step on any of the bodies that lay around him. He could only imagine what transpired here the last several days, each body he found was cold and silent, it began to remind him of the days during the Human-Covenant War. The variety of wounds he found closely resembled to what he saw on dead and wounded people he fought alongside during the war, even those he tried to protect. Saber slashes and blaster marks inhabited each and every body he found; none were any different from the rest. He eventually began to find children, long gone just like the rest of them, this troubled him the most but he continued to press on.

He continues to march on until his receptors began to pick up faint voices further down near an intersection, he picks up the pace readying his rifle for first contact, he comes close enough to make sense of what was being said "C'mon Ray! Put your back into it!"

"I'm trying Sir, the child sealed the doors!"

James immediately recognized the voices '_Clones_'.

He reaches the intersection and moves to the right wall, etching close to the corner to peek around, and spots four armed clone troopers, all 501st, trying to gain entrance into a room. One trooper was trying to break down the door, after failing to open the door through other means, while the other three stood on guard.

The SPARTAN spoke quietly enough not to be heard by the troopers "Be advised, I have visual on four armed contacts, they're trying to force their way into a room. Something about a child."

Percival answered "Can you identify the contacts?"

"Clones, 501st."

Ahsoka stepped in "Are any of them Rex?"

Longarm took another look around the corner "Negative."

She sighs uncertain on what to do, these were men she fought alongside since the Battle of Christophsis near the beginning of the war, it seemed mindless to order someone to kill them with cold hearted efficiency.

Percival however took control "The safety of the child comes first, move in and only engage if fired upon."

"Acknowledged, I'm moving in."

The SPARTAN rounds the corner, keeping his weapon lowered as to not antagonize the troopers who were currently unaware of him. Each passing step he drew closer, every instinct telling him to shoot and kill but his mind stayed beckoned him to stay calm and see how it plays out. His foot accidently kicks a discarded blaster sending it skittering across the floor and grabbing the attention of the troopers, they all looked to see a hulking green giant donning heavy armor and wielding a rifle.

They immediately drew their weapons on him, setting them on kill, the sergeant called out "Halt! You're not authorized to be here, you're trespassing on Imperial grounds!"

Longarm kept his calm "Stand down trooper, I've been sent here to help."

Three of the troopers looked at one another, confused, but the sergeant didn't buy it "I didn't receive notice of your arrival. Identify yourself immediately."

"Longarm" he answered.

The sergeant recognized the name and immediately orders "By order of his royal majesty, you are hereby under arrest for collaboration with the Jedi traitors. Surrender your arms and come with us for interrogation."

In response the SPARTAN slowly raised his weapon, training the barrel on the sergeant, "That's not going to happen trooper."

"Don't make this harder than it has to be!" the clone barked, keeping his long DC-15A rifle on his target.

James gave his only warning "This is your one chance to walk away alive. I hate to kill a man I fought alongside."

But the trooper gave no thought, his undying loyalty to the Emperor took over rational thought, and ordered "Blast 'em!" causing the other troopers to open fire spraying blue bolts of plasma onto the SPARTAN.

Longarm called out in his comms "Engaging!" followed up with three loud cracks of gunfire, each sending a 7.62mm armor piercing round into the sergeant's chest effortlessly penetrating the plastoid armor plating and killing him on the spot.

Continuous bolts of fire zipped across and struck the SPARTAN in various areas, while a majority of others flew past harmlessly, his shields flared orange as he returns fire with two successive headshots, the rounds easily cracked through the clones' T-shaped visor plates, each met with a different dying cry as each trooper fell. One final bolt struck him across the face and broke his shields before he lines up his last shot and sends it barreling towards the last trooper's chest who cried out just before hitting the ground on his back dead.

"Hostiles eliminated . . . I'm sorry Ahsoka."

Tano was momentarily silent "They attacked you first . . . don't worry" she said halfheartedly.

"They must've been busy if they were trying to get into that room" Jorge remarks.

Longarm glances at the door, sealed shut, and slaps the rifle onto his back. The keypad next to it seemed active so he pressed a random set of keys hoping it would do something, however the pad chimed in a negative way denying him entry. He glances at the door one more time before turning back to the pad and give it a solid punch that smashed the security measure and caused the door to slide open. He draws his M7 and carefully moves in with the weapon up to his shoulder, at first glance the room appeared empty, immaculate, regulated furniture that marked this room as someone's living quarters with a small window with light shining through.

One initial sweep was performed before he reported "Clear" then moved about inside to search.

It didn't take a moment to notice there was a slumped figure against the wall; the worn robes defined the figure as another Jedi, middle-aged Zabrak distinguished by the bone-like thorns protruding from his head, one blaster shot to his upper right chest.

"What did you find?" Ahsoka asked.

"I got one KIA, but he's too old to be a child . . ." he then heard a small whimper and stopped himself "Wait . . . standby."

He looked around the room briefly, seeing no other door than the one he came through, and quickly realizes the whimper came from underneath the bed next to him. He holsters his SMG and steps over to the bed before reaching down and lifts it up to find a young Pantoran girl, approximately six years old and signified by her blue skin and her short pastel purple hair, who immediately stood up and ran towards the dead Jedi.

He sets the bed down carefully and faces the youngling who barked "STAY BACK!"

The SPARTAN sets down on a knee stating calmly "Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you."

"STAY BACK!" she yelled now brandishing a lightsaber hilt "DON'T MAKE ME HURT YOU!"

Jorge could hear the commotion through the comms "What's going on?"

But James ignored him, staying on task, and slowly reaches out with his right hand "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you."

But she swipes it away and attempts to activate the saber, repeatedly pressing the stud that would typically ignite the blade however nothing happened, "I SAID STAY BACK!"

"Alright . . . have it your way" the SPARTAN replied as he backed away slowly before he reaches for his helmet and sets it on the ground, the girl stared at his pale complexion and piercing blue eyes "I'm a friend of Ahsoka Tano, have you heard of her?" he asks.

Something ticked in the little girl's mind "Ahsoka?" to which James nods silently.

"Wh-where is she?"

"She's aboard my ship safe and sound. She sent me here to look for people that may still be alive. And you're the first."

The girl said nothing afterwards, she still seemed frightened, but then he asks "What's your name?"

She remained silent so he went first putting his hand on his chest "My name is Longarm . . ."

"Bayu Cila . . ."

He gave a small grin "Bayu . . . that's a nice name. Is it alright if I call you Bay?" to which she nodded.

"Well listen Bay, I'm only here for a while but I have to keep moving to find anyone else that may still be here. You can come with me and help me find others, once we're done we'll head back to my ship and you'll see Ahsoka" he reaches out with his hand "Would you come with me?"

Bay hesitated for the moment, looking back at the dead Jedi behind her before shedding a tear from her eyes; he asks "Was he a friend?"

"My master . . ."she answered trying to keep herself from crying.

"Bay . . . I'm sorry for your loss. He died protecting you, and he would want you to get out of here safely. Would you come with me?"

Bay hesitated a little longer before she nodded agreeing and took his hand, the SPARTAN fits his helmet back on and stands up, "Alright when we walk out I'd like for you to close your eyes, okay?"

She nodded and asked "Could you carry me?"

The SPARTAN realized this would make him at a disadvantage if he came across more clones but this was possibly the only way she was going to move, he reaches down and scoops the little girl up in his left arm as he draws his magnum into his right, "You ready?"

She nodded silently.

"Alright, go ahead and close your eyes."

The two headed back out into the hallway, Bay kept her eyes closed as asked as she held onto the SPARTAN, Longarm looked down at the troopers he just killed for a brief moment, blood seeping from their wounds, before heading off back towards the intersection to resume his search.

He turns around the turn to his right just before contacting the _Vanguard_ "Sierra-121 to Vanguard Actual, I've located a survivor and we are proceeding with our search."

"Are they alright?" Ahsoka asked worriedly.

"She's fine; I'm proceeding further into the temple."

A wave of relief came over her "Acknowledged, there should be a stairwell just up ahead, head to the lower levels and continue your search . . . stay safe."

"Roger, we're Oscar Mike."

The two continue to walk further down the halls, the bodies eventually seemed to be more scattered apart from one another but they continued to litter the floors, Longarm kept his magnum at the ready while he held onto Bay who eventually opened her eyes and saw the corpses as they pass.

"Why would they do something like this? We haven't done anything wrong . . ." she asked herself.

However the SPARTAN heard her question and answered "I don't know."

Another moment passed before she stated "You can let me down now."

"You sure?"

She nodded "Mhm."

He sets the girl down on the ground before exchanging his magnum in favor for his rifle, which displayed eleven rounds remaining, and resumed marching forward with caution. She looked up to him as they walked, seeing the focus and coordination he was putting into his efforts, she figured that he was good friends with Ahsoka if he was willing to risk his life like this. The two were beginning to come up on a T-shaped intersection where the aforementioned stairway Tano spoke of was supposedly located, the SPARTAN gestured with his left hand for Bay to stick behind him allowing him to take point.

The two reached the intersection, the stairway to their right, and approached the corner when Longarm picked up the distant voice of a clone "Move it double time! Epsilon squad went dark ten minutes ago, we have to rendezvous and find out what happened!" accompanied by a chorus of rushing footsteps running up the stairway.

Longarm urged Bay "Stay here and whatever you do don't look" before he headed out into the open, latching the rifle onto his back, to confront the inbound troopers.

When he looked down the steps he could see a small platform down below that led to another case of stairs, the footsteps were becoming closer and soon enough he saw a number of troopers rushing up the stairs with blasters in hands. It didn't take long for the clones to come around the second set of stairs and look up to see the seven foot soldier standing in front of them, they immediately took aim ready to shoot at a moment's notice. Twelve troopers all in total against one single SPARTAN commando.

The platoon leader stepped forward and demanded "In the name of the new Empire, identify yourself!"

Bay watched silently from cover as Longarm made no response but instead reached for his back and produced his M90 CAWS Combat Shotgun, the troopers tensed, before stating "Who wants to pray to god first?"

The platoon leader hesitated for the brief moment then roared his command "GET HIM!"

The troopers took aim and open fired sending a volley of blaster up towards the SPARTAN who then took one leap forward towards the clones, with his augmented strength he was able to land in the midst of their ranks, and tear them apart from the inside.

The SPARTAN-ll rams his shoulder into the chest of the platoon leader, knocking all the air out of him, sending him crashing into a wall and fall unconscious. Blaster fire riddled Longarm's shields however he quickly turns around and fires an eight gauge shell, containing fifteen pellet-sized armor piercing projectiles, into the nearest trooper's chest at point-blank range and the results was devastating. The buckshot shell violently, and literally, shattered the clone's plastoid armor, sending fragmented pieces flying, and tore into his chest cavity with enough force to kill a full grown Sangheili in one blast, sending the trooper flying back a couple of feet.

The surrounding troopers watched their brother fall with a blood shrilled cry and continue their assault, firing their carbines and rifles at the SPARTAN whose shields was barely holding, but Longarm began to duck and sway through the incoming fire and placed another shell into the next trooper with similar effects. The clones quickly wised up and began to put distance between themselves and the super soldier, but it proved pointless as the commando stayed in close proximity and continue to wreak havoc among them. Longarm delivers third shell into another clone's body who gave another blood chilling cry just before swapping his shotgun in favor for his magnum and swiftly fires a round into the visor of a fifth clone.

The troopers were falling faster than they could shoot and fall back, they were still able to place accurate rounds downrange but each bolt was countered by the SPARTAN's energy shielding until it finally cracked leaving the soldier's titanium alloy shell exposed to blaster fire. Longarm makes another two kills with near simultaneous headshots, the clones crumpling down the stairs, just as a bolt fired from a DC-15A strikes him across his chest, the MJOLNIR armor's refractive coating doing its best to disperse the bolt and successfully does so but another hit from a high powered energy weapon would compromise the armor. The situation escalated and Longarm was forced to draws his SMG into his left hand and unload a quick and devastating eight round burst into another pair of troopers, the 5mm FMJ rounds easily pierced their armor in various locations across the body. The last two troopers quickly realized the battle was lost but they didn't stop fighting, the two clones quickly rushed at the SPARTAN hoping to take him at close range.

The first trooper prepares to throw a right fist across Longarm's head when he came within striking distance however the SPARTAN holsters his magnum and shoots up his right open hand grasping the clone by the neck with considerable force before throwing him aside like a ragdoll. The second trooper managed to come close enough to tackle the seven foot super soldier with all his might but it only caused Longarm to skid back a foot before he drew his knife and drives it into the clone's abdomen, the titanium carbide blade biting and tearing into the armor and flesh causing the trooper to cry out in agony before he was forcibly shoved aside and his chest was riddled by gunfire from Longarm's M7. James felt the threat was eliminated until another blue bolt slams into his chest, the refractive coating fails and a deep scorched hole was made in the SPARTAN's right pec piece and bodysuit. Longarm let out a brief roar of pain as he staggered back a step just before seeing the trooper he thrown away come back up armed with a DC-15S carbine primed and ready to shoot to kill. He attempts to take aim with his SMG but before he could pull the trigger the clone trooper was suddenly and violently launched into a nearby wall with enough force to either kill him or put him in a coma.

The SPARTAN-ll looked up the stairs to see Bayu with her hands held out, he soon realized that she had used the Force to save him, she quickly runs down the steps asking out loud "Are you alright!?"

He takes a moment to cope with the stinging pain in his chest before he gently places his hand over the blast mark, the hole was deep but fortunately it stopped just at the bodysuit, and answers "Yeah . . . I'll be fine. Thanks for the assist."

Bay gave a small grin filled with relief before she waves with her hand "C'mon! There might still be people here!" and runs off down the stairs.

He was utterly surprised that she had such a turnaround, from this frightened little girl to someone who was taking the lead on his operation with such confidence, he couldn't help but grin "Yes ma'am" and fall in behind her with his DMR in hand.

They eventually reached the bottom of the stairwell and were coming out onto a level that was located near the base of the ziggurat, they were given to separate directions to follow, both decided to head right and make their way to one of the more open areas of the temple. The two were beginning to move with a higher sense of purpose, Longarm powerwalking with his rifle braced against his shoulder while Bay was keeping up with a steady jog, until they came to what seemed to be a bridge that overlooked the floor level down below, the bridge was littered with bodies but they had their hopes that one or two would still be breathing. The SPARTAN slowed down to a steady walk once he reached the first set of bodies and carefully examined each one, both clone and Jedi, but at first there was no luck so they kept pressing forward.

Longarm saw Bay was doing the same, watching vigilantly for signs of life, so he asked as he kept his sights forward "So what were you doing before the attack?"

Cila looked up at the SPARTAN for a brief moment before turning her eyes back down grabbing her hilt from her belt "I was in the process of constructing my lightsaber with my master. I wasn't having the best of luck but my master remained confident in me, he was like a father to me. Do you have a father?"

"Everyone has a father. I lost mine a long time ago."

"What was he like?"

"Strong, modest, always had a story to tell. If you were to put him next to a senator or a king, you can always bet they'll be asking for one more story."

"He seems nice."

"Yeah" he sighed "He was."

They were proceeding further along the bridge checking for signs of life but there was nothing to be found, he asks "Did you ever get your lightsaber to function?"

"Mm no . . . and I don't think I ever will now."

"I'm sure Ahsoka would teach you."

The two continued onwards until they heard a moan ahead of them, close and weak, and they quickly picked up the pace until they came to they believe was the general location of the sound. The moan echoes again, this time they were possibly meters away, and both the SPARTAN and the Jedi youngling began to search relentlessly. Bay skimmed through the bodies she found, using what powers she had in the Force to find anything that might show a sign of life, Longarm on other hand was making use of careful observation and listening.

He was checking the body of a Jedi when he heard the moan emanate from a robed body to his left just a few feet away and he calls out "Over here."

He steps over to the moaning corpse that laid face down, with Cila rushing over, and gently places his left hand on the figure's neck, he waited patiently for a moment before stating "I got a pulse."

Ahsoka called over the comms "Who is it Longarm?" her heart froze waiting to know who else survived.

The SPARTAN carefully grabs the figure's shoulder and turns it over onto its back, initial observation told him that this was middle aged cerean male with a black beard and his eyes were gruesomely slashed by a saber thus making the poor man blind.

But the discovery caught Longarm off guard "Son of a . . ."

Percival demanded "SPARTAN Longarm, please report."

"It's Cain . . . I can't believe it but it's Cain Komari . . ."

"What!? How did he- it doesn't matter. Is he still alive!?" Ahsoka asked with worry in her voice.

"Standby."

Bay kneeled down the blinded Jedi and pleaded "Master Komari are you alright? Please say something!"

The cerean moaned "Child . . .? Have I . . . become one with the Force . . .?"

Longarm remarks "Not just yet you stubborn bastard, you're lucky the clones found you before I did after that stunt with the bounty hunters."

Cain grimaced but eventually he gives a small weak chuckle "Hehe . . . you are the one that is stubborn Longarm . . . you just refuse to die . . ."

Bay asked "Wait you two know each other?"

"We had a couple run-ins with each other before."

Komari reached out to Longarm, placing his hand on the SPARTAN's shoulder pauldron, "Please tell me . . . is young Ahsoka safe?"

"She's safe aboard the _Vanguard_, she sent me to look for survivors and I guess we found you."

Cain grinned "Forgive me for my previous actions . . . I was only doing this to protect what I valued . . ."

"Forget about it, I would've done the same thing if you were on my turf, besides it looks like Karma got you pretty good."

"Heh . . . I don't know this Karma you speak of but . . . it was not who took my sight away from me . . ."

"Who did this to you?"

Cain took a moment to gather his breath, still weak from what happened two days ago, and answered ". . . Vader . . ."

"Who?"

"Never mind that now . . . I hope you have a plan to get us out of here . . ."

"As a matter of fact I do, but we need to keep searching for survivors and I don't intend to leave anyone behind."

"Very noble of you SPARTAN . . . but I'm afraid there is not many of us left."

"Wait can't Jedi sense each other's presence through the Force? Could you find anyone else?"

The Jedi sighed "I suppose it is worth a try . . . but the dark side has drowned our senses . . ."

Cain began to focus, becoming in touch with what ability he still retains in the Force, the moment was long and painstaking for his injured body until he found something "Lador . . . he still lives."

"Where?"

"Eastern side of the temple . . . I cannot be certain . . ."

"Well that's where we'll start looking then" Longarm comments as he begins to pick the cerean up from the floor, putting the Jedi's right arm around his broad armored shoulders, and reports in "Be advised Cain Komari is secured though his condition is unstable, we're on route to locate another Jedi by the name Lador, how copy?"

Percival acknowledged "Copy loud and clear, Cila and Komari are secured but needs medical assistance, proceed to your next target and do what you can. The _Vanguard _is on standby to move in for emergency evac."

The trio began to head off towards the eastern side of the dead Jedi temple, Cain spoke "I have misjudged your intentions . . . I cannot thank you enough for what you are doing . . ."

Longarm however retorts "Once we get out of here alive, you and I are going to have a talk" only for Komari to give another chuckle.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	32. Operation: Dunkirk pt2

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 32**

**"****Operation Dunkirk pt.2"**

[Coruscant, Jedi Temple]

"Move it move it! Double time!" a clone lieutenant barks to his men, he and his platoon were moving to intercept an intruder that was making their way to the eastern side of the temple in order to aid a Jedi that was hiding out in said location.

The troopers were rushing ahead with haste until an armor piercing round strikes a trooper in the chest, killing him instantly, while forcing some of the others to immediately take cover behind stone pillars. However few clones choose to remain in the open and spot the SPARTAN-ll charging in with his DMR raised up to his shoulder firing away onto them. The troopers quickly returned fire turning the large corridor they were in into another warzone, sending blue bolts of energy downrange towards the ever advancing hostile that was putting them down faster than they had hoped.

Longarm continues the assault carefully selecting his targets and put one to two rounds into each while doing his best to avoid the incoming fire, he was fortunate to still have operable shielding but he wasn't going to risk another hit to his armor. He steadily closes the gap with each passing step or dash as he expertly dropped every clone that stuck out of cover to shoot back, he notices that the clones were becoming more careful and more aware on what they were dealing with rather than throwing themselves blindly at him in a vainglorious fashion for their new emperor.

The platoon was now reduced to a dwindling few when a sergeant calls out "Fall back! Fall back!" while firing his weapon with hopes of at least slowing down the approaching super soldier.

Unfortunately his attempts were to no avail as he became Longarm's next target and took a round to his chest, the round effortlessly pierced his armor and tore through his left lung. The remaining three clones formed up and concentrated whatever remaining firepower they still retained onto the SPARTAN, firing their carbines and rifles until they were eventually torn down by ballistic fire.

The platoon was finally destroyed and Longarm quickly checks his ammo counter on his rifle, to find the weapon empty with perfect timing, and switches out the dispensed magazine for a fresh one while he calls out to someone far behind him "Clear!"

He works the charging bolt on his rifle before turning around to see Bay and Cain slowly coming from around the corner, Komari was somewhat more able then he was when they first found him but he still needed support and therefore relied on Cila to keep him up right. Longarm slaps his DMR onto his back and returns to the others where he takes the cerean over his shoulder and allow Bay a moment to rest her arms after having held up someone almost three times her weight.

"How much further?" James asks as the trio began moving forward.

"Not much . . . just a little ways down the corridor, there's a chapel that Lador and I use to go when we were younglings. His presence is strong there though I fear for his safety."

"Don't worry, if what I heard about the Jedi is true, he'll hold out."

"Let us hope so."

The three continued making their way through the corridors with no further opposition from clone troops in the temple, eventually after a long period of silence Cila asks "So what is it like aboard your ship?"

The SPARTAN looked down at her for a brief moment and answers "Well it has all the essentials you'll need."

"I know that, I mean what is it like aboard?"

"Oh . . ."

He takes a moment to come up with a decent answer "Well . . . it's pretty big for starters."

"Like a cruiser?"

"Not that big . . . but you can fit a lot of people in it. There's plenty of rooms for you to choose from so you could take a room next to Ahsoka or Cain-"

"Or you" she adds.

"Why me?"

"Because you're doing this for us, you're pretty nice."

The SPARTAN gave a light chuckle "Hear that Komari? I'm pretty nice."

The Jedi grumbled "So I've heard."

Cain knew Longarm was mainly a straight forward, no kidding around kind of person, when it came to important matters such as this but he also knew the reason why he's acting like this was to lift everyone's mood on such a depressing time in their lives, it was partially working.

He continues "Anyways there's a nice area where you could train with your lightsaber, after Ahsoka helps you construct it, and if you need a quiet place to be that area would be your best bet."

"That's nice, is there a lot of people on board?"

"No . . . originally there's Ahsoka, Jorge, Percival, and I. But after this I guess we'll have a few more neighbors to chat with."

Cain suddenly asks "Jorge?"

"Another SPARTAN just like me."

"Wonderful . . ." he moaned.

Bay gets back on topic "Anything else?"

"Um . . . well from what Ahsoka tells me, we have the best Moa Steak around."

"Moa Steak? What's that?"

"It's pretty great, when we get back I'll have Percival make a plate for you. And something for Cain if you're up for it."

"My eyes were slashed and I was left to die for nearly two days without outside contact or substance, I'll take anything you have . . ." Komari stated.

"Good to hear."

They quickly fell silent afterwards as they continue to progress through the empty temple halls without delay, hoping to find Cain's friend in time before it was too late however it wasn't long before their ears began to pick up distant fighting. Blaster bolts fired, men calling out orders and dying cries, it had to be Lador or some other Jedi that was also in the vicinity, Longarm immediately picked up the pace, essentially dragging Komari's feet beneath him and Bay began to jog.

As Cain stated, the chapel was just further down the hall where the sounds of blaster fire and men were coming from, the Jedi advised the SPARTAN "Go. Save my friend, we will only slow you down, young Cila and I will wait here . . ."

Longarm seemed to have hesitated briefly before acknowledging the order, setting Komari down on a wall, and rushes off with haste to support Lador.

[Chapel]

Lador Mattis was firmly holding his ground against the ever advancing 501st troopers that were taking up offensive positions and remaining behind cover as the Jedi reflected blaster bolts back at them. He had already slain three platoons but more seem to keep replacing them every time one fell, but he was bound determine to escape the temple even though he cursed himself for not leaving during the initial fighting.

He overhears a trooper in the distance "Push up! Get on all sides!"

As ordered, several clones began to slowly make their way around him hoping to surround him on all sides rather than keep facing the Jedi's front while some of their brothers kept Lador busy from the front. The Jedi was holding his ground nonetheless as he tries to halt their advance, he sweeps a flanking squad of troopers to his left with the Force sending them flying backwards against the walls, and puts down several more clones by deflected blaster fire. But the clones kept swarming in through the front entrance which was a somewhat narrow corridor that reached into the temple, the only way they could ever reach the chapel, and were unrelenting in their fight which the Jedi was losing through exhaustion.

More troopers kept pouring in each time he kills one until he hears a distant cry further down the corridor "LOOK OUT! LOOK OUT!"

"WHAT IS THAT-ACK!"

"BLAST IT!"

"I HAVE NO VISUAL!"

"HOW MANY AR- WAAGH!"

"FALL BA- AAGH!"

Something was causing chaos among the organized troopers and was inciting panic among them, Lador knew something far more dangerous had arrived and it was tearing his attackers to shreds. Several troopers that were engaging the Jedi quickly turned around and ran to support the men in the corridor, Mattis only had a brief glimpse of heavy blaster fire and what looked like a double bladed lightsaber cutting into them with unrivaled ferocity.

"Smoke 'em!" a trooper calls out as he reaches for his utility belt and produced a small smoke canister before he and several others threw them into the corridor that was soon engulfed in a thick grey cloud.

The commanding officer of the imperial troops commands "Squad Three stay on the Jedi! Four and six, eyes on that corridor!"

Lador watched as two squads moved to confront their attacker at the entrance while the third moved into position to keep up their attack on him but before they could even move everyone heard a single steady set of heavy footsteps approaching through the smoke. Nothing could be seen and this was something that was setting the troopers on edge, their weapons raised to their shoulders and their fingers gently squeezing the trigger, and the steps were becoming closer and closer until everything sudden fell silent.

The clones slowly began backing away from the cloud, Lador stood ready with his lightsaber in spite of the rising fear in him. Every single trooper had completely forgotten their target stood behind, some didn't even care at this point, as they waited anxiously for their moment to pull the trigger and engulf the entire corridor in a fierce barrage of blaster fire.

The sergeant muttered on his comms to the other troopers "Steady . . ."

But the silence was deathly disturbing, they couldn't tell who or what just slaughtered their reinforcements and left them cornered in the chapel. Several clones were now becoming afraid, one was beginning to shake in his armor, another was breathing heavily trying to keep himself calm.

And that was when all hell broke loose . . .

In a mere instance the troopers heard the harsh and abrupt activation of an energy sword, Mattis watched as two curved blades of pure plasma appeared in front of him directly behind the frightened troopers, and one clone was quickly impaled by the dual blades that has ran through his chest and hanged him high in the air. No sound came from the trooper except for the heavy thud he made when the sword retracted from his body and he fell to the floor. The other troopers quickly turned, seeing their dead brethren and the floating sword, and immediately opened fire upon the sword but within several quick blurs of motion two more troopers were killed with lethal slashes to their chests and abdomens.

The clones began backing away from the sword but whatever ungodly monster that wielded it was far too agile, quickly giving chase to a retreating squad of troopers and cut them down. Mattis watched in shock as the attacker tore through each clone like some kind of rabid animal, viscously tearing and biting through them with its blade.

"FIRE! FIRE!" a clone cried out as he began to fire his carbine wildly, the other clones were too frightened to coordinate and followed suit.

But no matter how much blaster fire they clones let out, the attacker seemed to be three steps ahead of them, effortlessly ducking and weaving through the bolts of energy, and continued to cleave through them . Each clone let out a cry of sheer agony as the sword burned through their bodies, the final clone was now running for his life, attempting to reach the corridor, but a crack of gunfire echoed outwards and the trooper fell to the ground with a bloodied right leg. The Jedi watched as the clone tried to scramble away before the invisible force kicked him over onto his back and held him down, only then did attacker finally reveal itself as an olive green giant with heavy armor plating all over its body and its left boot firmly planted on the clone's body preventing escape. Instincts told Lador to go and save the trooper but the giant had taken him by surprise, to him this thing wasn't even logical beyond reason, and before he could have done anything, the giant ran his blade through the trooper's chest with no remorse.

The figure silently steps off and looks over at Mattis through its gold plated visor, the Jedi prepares himself for what may be his last fight, until it spoke with a calm but firm tone "Lador?"

Mattis didn't respond, keeping his saber ready, but the giant continued "Cain sent me . . ."

And then he froze "Ho- How do you know Komari?"

The figure withdraws his sword, attaching it to his thigh in exchange for a scoped black rifle that was attached to his back, when he was going to answer but his voice was cut off when a weak but firm voice spoke "Because he's our SPARTAN problem . . . Lador, meet Longarm . . ."

Longarm turns around to find Cila walking Komari into the chapel, his body still seemed weak but he was proving to be a stubborn man. Mattis saw the two walk in as well and deactivates his lightsaber feeling relieved to know his friend was still alive.

He then turns to the SPARTAN "So you must be Longarm my friend has been talking about . . ."

"The very same."

"It's a pleasure to meet you then I guess."

"Likewise."

Komari was finally allowed to sit down on a seat with Bay carefully and rest before he asks "I don't suppose you have a way of getting us out of here still breathing?"

The SPARTAN begins a quick weapon check over his rifle "As a matter of fact I do. When I give the word, the _Vanguard_ will jump into the lower atmosphere just outside the temple, Jorge will then be launched from the hangar via dropship and meet us at one of the western landing platforms. From there we'll return to the ship and jump out of the system. There's only just one problem."

Mattis had to ask "And that is?"

"There's a star destroyer in the vicinity of the Temple District and the _Vanguard_ doesn't have the tonnage to take on a ship of that size alone."

Komari then adds "And you cannot use your primary weapon or you may cause collateral damage to the surrounding area filled with civilians."

"Correct."

"But you have a plan anyways?"

Longarm taps onto his helmet's comms relay and asks "Vanguard Actual?"

"We do have a solution to our star destroyer dilemma, in fact Ahsoka was the one to bring it up, but it's a risky one at that."

"Let's hear it."

"We can execute a low altitude entry as planned and deploy SPARTAN Jorge to extract you all, the only catch is if we want to catch that warship off guard then we'll need to drop out right next to it and deliver a salvo of missiles onto one of their main gun batteries. That will save the ship from the heavy firepower and bring us close enough for you to be extracted in no time."

"And our exit strategy? We can't make a jump out while in atmosphere."

"Precisely, therefore we'll be forced to make our way for the upper levels and then jump out."

James stood there silently thinking about the risks of the plan, a Halberd-class Destroyer half the size of a Venator-class Star Destroyer in a close range knife fight that UNSC vessels were never specialized in, it was too dangerous even for him.

"I don't know Percival . . . there's too much to lose, are you sure it'll work?"

But instead of the AI answering, Ahsoka's voice came through confident as ever "It'll work, you have to trust me."

He continue to think about the plan and the possible outcome of the fight, he didn't like it, but in the end he gives a gradual sigh and state "Alright, we're going with the plan. Ahsoka, since you know the critical hardpoints of a star destroyer better than anyone of us, I'm giving you temporary command of the _Vanguard_."

Tano didn't know what to say, the fact that James now trusts her with their only warship that couldn't last against a ship twice its size was astonishing, but she calms herself and thanked him "Thank you . . ."

"Just be ready when it's time."

"Of course."

The SPARTAN signed off and spoke to the survivors around him "Alright we move out in sixty seconds, no doubt more troopers are on the way to investigate what happened here. I'll take point and we'll loop around the north end on our way to the western side, I'll make the call and we will get out of here safe and sound."

"You sound so sure of your plan and your trust in young Ahsoka . . . why?" Cain asked.

"It's something you have to do, like all of us right now. We have to trust each other more than ever. I'm placing a lot of trust in all of you right now, so the question right now is: Do you trust me? Not as Jedi or SPARTAN, but as someone you can rely on no matter what?"

The Cila and Mattis briefly looked at one another, Cain silently sat there facing one direction, before Bayu was the first "If you went through all of the trouble for us, then I trust you . . ."

The SPARTAN nodded to that and turned to Lador who answered "If you trust young Ahsoka as much as I think you do, then it's a fool's choice not to trust you."

And finally Cain who remained silently seated finally gave a sigh and spoke "If you are able to convince three Jedi to trust you with their lives . . . then I agree with my dear friend, I'd be a fool to not to trust you. Because in spite of fear of the Empire and what I have done to you, you still came to help us in our darkest time. Thank you."

Longarm nodded to Komari's words "Good . . . we should get going, Lador help you friend and everyone stay close to me."

Everyone complied with the order, Mattis got Cain up onto his feet and the three converged behind the SPARTAN before they all headed out as a single group, Longarm taking point with his DMR, Cila right behind him, and the two friends shortly after.

[Fifteen minutes later]

On the northern side of the temple, the group continued onwards without delay and very little opposition, two man patrols were effectively put down before they could've presented themselves as threats. They were moving on until Cain collapsed onto the floor, nearly taking Lador down with him, and the group was halted.

"What happened?" Longarm asks as he turns around to see the two on their knees.

"Don't worry . . . I'm just weak that is all . . ."

Bay asked "How much more till we reach the platform?"

"About four hundred meters to the nearest one, it's not far."

"Maybe for you . . . but it's still quite a ways for us" the cerean argued.

"Maybe. But this is the final stretch, we get to that platform and then we're home free."

"Let us hope so."

Lador was beginning to pick his friend back up when he felt something he never would've thought of "Wait . . . I- I felt someone's presence . . ."

This caught the SPARTAN's undivided attention "Another Jedi?"

"Yes . . . this one is strong, almost as strong as . . . Master Yoda?"

"Who's Yoda?"

Cila answered "He's the wisest and most powerful of the Order."

James looked back at Lador "Where is he?"

"He's near the Jedi Archives, there's someone else with him but I can't tell who."

Longarm took a quick moment to think then developed a new strategy "Alright change of plans, you three will continue on to the landing platform, do your best to not attract any attention. I'm heading to the Archives to extract Yoda and the other Jedi."

"We're not coming with you?" Bay asked with concern.

"If we all continue moving as a group it'll attract a lot of unwanted attention, they'll have every single clone in the temple coming after a group of five Jedi and a SPARTAN. I can reach them faster and we'll be back at the platform in no time."

The SPARTAN-ll noticed Cila's worried look, she became afraid that she might not see him again for reasons neither could explain, he kneels down as he reaches for his back waist bag, producing a small comlink device courtesy of Ahsoka, and hands it to her "I'll be right there to answer if you need me, I'm not leaving you here."

Bay took the communicator in her hands and without warning threw her arms around the SPARTAN's neck holding him tight, he wasn't expecting this at first but he eventually sets his rifle aside on the ground and carefully wrapped his armored arms around her, he repeats himself in a whisper "I will not leave you here."

"You promise?"

" . . . I promise."

She lets go of him, allowing to pick up his rifle and stand back up, and he ordered "You should all keep moving, I'll meet you all at the platform with the others."

"Stay safe Longarm" Lador spoke.

And Cain adds "You are most noble SPARTAN. I wish you the best of luck."

Longarm answered back "We make our own luck Komari" and on that note he sprints off in the opposite direction, moving with purpose.

As he placed distance between himself and the Jedi he contacts the _Vanguard_ "Longarm to Vanguard Actual over?"

Percival's voice returned "We read you Longarm."

"I need a waypoint to the Jedi Archives, I got two more potential survivors there. One by the name of Yoda."

Tano quickly broke into the conversation "Master Yoda is there!? If we have him with us then there's still hope for the Jedi."

As commanded, Percival placed a waypoint marker on the SPARTAN's HUD which prompted to answer "I'm moving to intercept now."

[Twenty minutes later, Archives]

Jedi Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi were approaching the Archive vault, after having fought their way through 501st troopers to get into the vault. It pained them to see a dead Jedi that was killed by those they had fought alongside for three years, only to be fooled by the true lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious. They realized that this whole war was meant to bring the end of the Jedi Order, everything was planned and they never saw it coming.

"Master . . . do you think anyone could've survived this?" Obi-Wan asks in grief.

"Survivors there are, Master Kenobi, into hiding they had gone. Save themselves from the Empire, they must" Master Yoda answered as the two continued walking through the library.

"This was all just what the Sith wanted, and we played right into their trap."

"Powerful, the Dark Side has become and clouded our minds, they did. Foreseen this, no one could have."

The two continued further into the Archive with no opposition, the only signs of the enemy were the dead that laid before them, however this moment did not last when the two heard the distant chorus of soldiers rushing to intercept them in the halls.

"I believe we have company."

"Right you may be."

As they turned around they saw seven troopers rushing in with blasters in hand, Obi Wan and Yoda grabbed hold of their lightsabers in preparation for another fight, and the clones fanned out until they created a firing line in front of the two Jedi and trained their weapons on them

The clones said nothing but Kenobi, with a wave of his hand, tries to persuade the clones to stand down "You don't want to kill us . . ."

But the troopers didn't buy it "You're Jedi tricks won't work on us traitor, it's time you pay the price."

At that instant the two Jedi caught a glimpse of green on the second level story of the archive and without warning a giant leaped from the balcony down into the crowd of clones, crushing one under its feet before making a long swipe with a dual bladed sword that eviscerated three more.

"LOOK OUT!" a clone yelped before he was stabbed in the chest.

The figure withdrew its sword in exchange for a weapon on its back and unloaded a furious blast that shredded another trooper's chest with buckshot, the last trooper swings the barrel of his carbine against the giant's helmet, to no effect, and the giant quickly grabbed the clone by the arm and leg, raised him high above itself, and bring his back down onto his knee snapping the spine and killing the trooper instantly.

The figure took a quick look around, ensuring no more troopers were in the area, before turning to the Jedi and ask "Master Kenobi . . . like you said back on Ukio, we should really stop meeting each other like this."

The Jedi recognized the voice "Longarm? Is that you?"

"Yes Sir" the SPARTAN replied as he steps over to the two Jedi.

Yoda intervenes "Master Kenobi, know him do you?"

"Uh yes Master Yoda, this is SPARTAN Longarm, a mandalorian who helped us out a number of times before in the past. Longarm this is Jedi Master Yoda, a wise and powerful Jedi."

The seven and a half foot soldier looks down at the roughly two foot Jedi and gave a respectful "Sir."

Yoda nodded in response and asks "Come here why have you?"

"Ahsoka Tano sent me in hopes of finding survivors and to secure the holocrons before Imperial forces could."

Obi-Wan then asks "Is she alright?"

"She's safely aboard the _Vanguard_, she was insistent on joining me but the risks were too high."

"And found survivors have you?" Yoda hoped.

"Five including you two, I can get you both out of here but we need to move."

"Fret not, on our way to the holocron vault we are. Find the source of the false beacon we must."

"False beacon?"

Kenobi explains "The troopers sent out an all-clear transmission to all Jedi stating that they must come home and that the war is over. If we don't change that more Jedi will walk right into the trap and be killed."

"Then let's get moving."

Kenobi turns and continues walking while the SPARTAN extended his arm down and allowed Yoda to climb onto his back before he moves up with Obi-Wan.

As they walked James taps onto his comms to send the good news "SPARTAN Longarm to Vanguard Actual do you read?"

Ahsoka responded "Did you find them?"

"I've located Master Yoda and Kenobi, they're both safe, and we're moving to the holocron vault."

She lets out a sigh of relief "Thank you . . . if you can get them both home."

"I'll do everything I can."

He signs off just as Yoda climbs over onto his left shoulder and ask "Know Ahsoka do you?"

"Yes Sir. I believe it was shortly after she left the Order . . . she told me what happened."

Yoda grimly sighed "Yes a tragedy it was. But also fortunate that she found you it is."

"More like she found me."

"Hmm sense your feelings for her I do. Care, compassion, the feeling to protect her you feel?"

"Sir?"

"Tell me, see her as what do you?"

"A friend, someone I can rely on. We both watched each other's backs ever since the skirmish on Toydaria."

"Friend? Hmm . . . yes."

Kenobi calmly interrupts the two as they approached a large circular door "Here we are."

The SPARTAN's eyes scanned the door, looking for any possible mechanism until his eyes rested on a small lock off to the right side of the door. He watches Kenobi raise his hand to it and with the Force he slowly and expertly unlocks the mechanism which caused the massive door to open up into a dark room with small glints of light inside.

Kenobi entered with Longarm and Yoda following suit, but the moment they entered and the SPARTAN attempts to contact the _Vanguard_ he was only met with garbled static, he figured the vault was shielded from communications which denied him his channel to Ahsoka and the others. However he didn't bother to waste time to send the call and continued following Obi-Wan until they came to the first bank of holocrons, each giving off a brilliant bluish glow.

"These are the holocrons you'll want to take, they contain the information of all future Jedi and some of our other closely guarded secrets, should the Empire acquire the information then there will be no hope for the Order."

"I'll begin collecting them now."

"Very well, ensure they do not fall into the wrong hands."

"I understand Sir."

Yoda climbs down and begins walking with Obi-Wan who ventured outside to see about dealing with the beacon in the data archives. Longarm watched them go before he begins collecting the holocrons and safely tuck them away inside the UNSC duffel bag he had brought with him. He wasn't sure how a Jedi could access the data inside but he was fascinated by the seemingly delicate design of the cubes, he only wish to know what the Jedi had stored away in here for all of recorded history, a thought that perhaps one would contain the method of returning to his galaxy. He continues taking each cube until he clears the first bank and carefully closes his bag that was already full before he headed out with a slow jog, fearing the holocrons could break if he broke into a full run.

He ventures out of the vault just in time for the door to seal itself once more by an invisible force, perhaps a timer of some sort, and continues through the archives to find Obi-Wan and Yoda which didn't take long when he spots them heading for a security station. He strode on over when he noticed the two Jedi had glanced back to see them, Kenobi turned and walked towards him while Yoda made his way inside the station.

"Longarm, could you stay out here and keep guard, there's no need for you to be in here when there may be more troopers on the way."

"Of course. I'll be here if you need me."

Kenobi nodded with a grin and heads into the station, the SPARTAN stood near the door and stood watch looking out for any possible hostile contacts that may be coming. It made him wonder if there was any clone that refused to follow Order 66, some of the clones he met before today seemed they trusted their Jedi officers with their lives and would never do anything to break their trust. As much as he liked the idea he found it unlikely, these troopers were bound determine to see to it that every Jedi was killed with prejudice, something he couldn't stand for. And over time he felt that his allegiance was to the UNSC and the Jedi Order, if only there was a way to receive reinforcements from home which was another thought that was highly unlikely.

Minutes turned into nearly an hour later when he spots Yoda, now pained and distraught, come outside and caused the worried SPARTAN to ask "Sir? Is something wrong?"

"Wrong? Hmm maybe. Nothing to tell you I have. Bid you farewell I do."

"You're not coming with us back to the _Vanguard_?"

"Afraid not I am, confront Darth Sidious I must."

Longarm took a moment to contemplate before stating "I wish you the best of luck Sir."

"As do I. No matter the cost keep Ahsoka safe, will you?"

"I'll try . . ."

"No. Do or do not. There is no try."

The SPARTAN understood what was being asked of him and finally acknowledges the order "I'll keep her safe, no matter the cost."

"Good . . . Good . . . May the Force be with you . . ."

On that note Yoda begins to leave, alone, which prompted him to wonder where Obi-Wan was and by cue he appears out of the doorway as well, with the same pained expression as Yoda.

Another thought appeared in the SPARTAN's mind which made him ask "Where's Skywalker? I haven't seen him anywhere in the temple."

Kenobi's expression worsened, this was possibly the worst thing that could've ever happened, Longarm asks "What happened?"

"I'm afraid . . . Anakin has turned to the Dark Side . . ."

". . . What?"

The Jedi took a moment to collect himself "I- I saw a security footage of him killing younglings . . . and Sidious praising him. I'm afraid Skywalker has become Darth Vader . . ."

"Vader? Komari mentioned someone named Vader after his eyes were slashed- did Skywalker do all of this!?" he wonders now with signs of frustration behind his voice.

"Yes . . . I have a hard time believing it myself . . ."

"And now you're going to find him?"

"I must, he's become a terrible threat" Kenobi stated with a heavy heart, and then he asks "What will you tell Ahsoka?"

This caught the SPARTAN off guard, this was probably just as bad as keeping _his_ secret from her, and he didn't know how Ahsoka would react.

He gave a moment to think before he finally had an answer "I don't want Ahsoka to lose her image of what he was . . ."

"I understand . . . you do well to keep her protected, but be ready when she does find out."

"So this is goodbye then?"

"I'm afraid so . . . but before you go" he holds out a single holocron in his hand "This is something for all of you to listen to when you return."

James took the cube into his gloved hand, he glared down at it before he looks up to Kenobi as he stored it away "Good luck Sir . . . it's been an honor" and silently heads off alone towards the western platform where the others were waiting for him.

Kenobi watched the SPARTAN-ll for the last time as he walks further away before he turns his back and heads off in another direction "There is no such thing as luck . . . May the Force be with you . . ."

[Ten minutes later]

Longarm was jogging along the upper levels of the Temple on the western side when his comms chimed signaling a call coming in, he puts it on and quickly heard Cila's voice "Longarm!? They found us on the platforms! Master Mattis is trying to hold them off but I don't know if he'll last any longer!"

He responded with urgency "Alright hang on, I'm on route to your location!"

He switches the channels to the _Vanguard_ "SPARTAN Longarm to Vanguard Actual, I need you here now!"

Percival responded with the same sense of alarm "Acknowledged, FTL drives have been primed and missile pods are armed, ETA five minutes."

"Roger, I'll make my way onto the platforms."

He now needed a way down to the platforms in under five minutes which would be impossible even if he ran as fast as he could, he glanced over to his left to see the line of windows that looked out onto the cityscape, maybe he didn't have to run. He quickly walks over and peers through the window down onto the small array of platforms that lined the temple, one of them was under heavy fire, and as he activates his helmet's binocular feature he quickly spots Mattis holding his ground against pressing clone forces while Bayu and the weak Cain hid behind several stacked crates. He promised them he'd get them out, and he wasn't about to break that promise.

He draws his M90 taking aim at the transparasteel window before him and pulls the trigger sending out a spray of eight gauge buckshot shells into the window. The first shell only left minor splinters against the window but he fires another round, this time it was showing progress, he cycles the shotgun pump another time just before a squad of troopers came around the corner far down the corridor to his left and spots him.

"Over there! Blast him!" a clone roared just before he and the others open fired.

Blaster bolts zipped past the SPARTAN while he unloads the third shell into the window, the pane was fragmenting, and racks the pump one more time. A bolt strikes him across his left shoulder, his shields dropped down to sixty eight percent, he fires the last shell into the window, finally shattering it into tiny pieces, and quickly sprints until he dove through the shattered window out onto the steep sloped exterior of the temple ziggurat.

He slid down the side, both his feet and his left hand held onto the side to ensure he didn't tumble off, as he switched out his shotgun for his DMR with his right hand. He was gradually coming down onto another platform that ran adjacent from the platform where the Jedi was making their stand, fortunately for him there were no troopers on his side when he jumped off the ledge of the hangar that was supposedly underneath him to avoid missing his landing and came down onto the platform.

He begins running out further onto his pad when he called out onto his comms in his calm tone "Hang on Cila, I'm going to provide support."

Bayu stayed behind cover as blaster bolts flew past, but when he spoke to she peered out to see the SPARTAN-ll running on a separate pad before he fell to a knee and fired upon the clones that were assaulting Lador. Mattis deflected several bolts back to his attackers when he noticed men were being shot in the sides by ballistic fire and looked over to see Longarm firing his DMR on the clones. James continued laying down sniper support, accurately placing each round into a clone without thought, but each trooper he took down there was more to take their place and soon they were firing upon him.

"Vanguard Actual where the hell are you!? We're being overrun!" he calls out into his helmet.

There was a momentary silence before Percival reported with satisfaction "Standby SPARTAN, _UNSC Vanguard _has arrived and on station."

As he said those words he looked out to the distance where the Imperial Star Destroyer sat and spotted a shard of lightning skip across the sky just off the cruiser's port bow moments before the air became distorted and a pitch black portal ripped open allowing the four hundred eighty five meter long destroyer to come streaming out. He imagined the bridge crew of the ISD was caught by surprise when the _Vanguard _appeared literally right next to them and unleashed a heavy volley of Archer Ship-to-Ship missiles onto the Venator's port DBY-827 heavy turbolaser batteries, and without the presence of shielding the guns were effectively disabled or utterly destroyed. However with the cruiser's primary armament out of commission it did not stop it from firing its onboard secondary laser cannon battery and multiple point-defense blasters onto the destroyer, the laser cannon only made moderate impact against the _Vanguard's_ thick titanium alloy plating while the point defenses only left scorched marks and nothing more.

Longarm watched the pelican launch from the ventral hangar shortly after and returns his attention back onto the attacking clones, putting two more down with two rapid successive shots, moments before he hears Jorge's voice "Evac pelican is on route, got quite party down there."

He orders just as more fire was being concentrated on him "Evac the survivors first! Then loop around and get me!"

"Right, you might want to tell your friends to keep their heads down."

Mattis continues to deflect blaster fire back, with the aid of Longarm he was more able to hold his ground than before, but the troopers kept pressing forward despite the losses they were suffering. He could hear a lot of cannon fire behind him but he dared not turn away from the clones in fear of getting hit but that was no longer the problem when he noticed several troopers look up, some running away while others aimed their weapons to the sky and fire. In moments a harsh sudden gust of wind rushed in from behind him and he as forced to turn around to see a large green bird-like aircraft hovering over him via four pivotal thruster pods with what appeared to be a high caliber gun mounted on the dropship's chin. Then by cue the gun clicked and gave a small hum as it locked onto the clones and immediately open fired sending burst after burst of 70mm that completely eviscerated the troopers, Mattis watched as one shell slammed into a trooper's left shoulder joint and utterly blasted the arm clean off along with a fairly large portion of his chest in a violent display of raw savage power. Blood curling screams quickly filled the air but they were drowned out by the autocannon's roar as the dropship slowly came to a landing on the platform and swung the rear troopbay door open prompting the Jedi to quickly climb aboard.

Longarm ceased fire and watched men of the 501st be torn down like trees by the cannon, once the last survivor was aboard the pelican took to the air again and gradually made its way over to his pad where he then climbed aboard and closed the hatch.

"Get us out of here Jorge!" he calls out afterwards.

"Right, hang on back there!"

As more troopers poured onto the pads and began firing on them the pelican quickly adjusted its thruster pods and immediately takes off back towards the _Vanguard_ that was currently engaged with the crippled cruiser. Shortly afterwards the destroyer broke contact and diverted its power to the main fusion drive thrusters to make way for the upper atmosphere, the cruiser therefore launched its complement of starfighters to pursue the destroyer and dropship.

James climbs into the cockpit seat situated behind Jorge and quickly runs a scan of the area before reporting "We have fighters fast on approach, standby of countermeasures."

The pelican was being tailed by a squadron of V-Wing fighters that had already came within weapons range and open fired upon them, the _Vanguard_ quickly directed two of its M910 AA guns onto the squadron and began firing 50mm flak rounds into the area around them. The fighters however weren't deterred by the amount of incoming fire they were receiving, one fighter bursts into flames after taking a direct hit to the cockpit, and continued their attack hoping to deny the pelican a chance to land in the destroyer's hangar.

"They're not breaking off" Longarm states now becoming worried.

In the troopbay, Mattis was securely set in his seat, however he quickly grew tired of the Empire's persistence and unlocks his safety bar and walked over to the rear hatch before peering through to see the fighters slowly closing the gap with their cannons blistering away.

"Enough of this" he muttered to himself before he reaches out with the Force, grasping one of the fighters, and slammed two of their pursuers into one another causing them both to crash and destroy themselves.

Three fighters remained but the Flak given off by the destroyer was now proving to be more dangerous than they had hoped, forcing them to turn away and allow the pelican safe passage into the hangar. Jorge carefully guided the dropship into the hangar bay and made a secure landing just as the bulkhead doors slowly closed shut.

Afterwards, by Ahsoka's order, the _Vanguard_ punches a hole into slipstream space and exits the system. Making Operation: Dunkirk their first and successful operation against the new Galactic Empire.

**Pleave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	33. New playing field

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 33**

**"****New playing field"**

[UNSC _Vanguard_, Slipstream Space]

The two SPARTANs and the surviving Jedi were disembarking from the pelican dropship onto the hangar floor, Jorge helped Cain out of the vehicle as James ensured the holocrons were still intact and that Lador and Bayu were alright in terms of injuries. It wasn't long until Ahsoka appeared through the bulkhead door and came down onto the floor to greet everyone, however when she saw only three Jedi she began to wonder and worry.

She stops next to James seeing Lador, Bayu, and Cain and asks with concern "Where's Master Kenobi and Master Yoda?"

He took a moment to look at the accomplishment they made, rescuing the Jedi and securing the holocrons, before he answered solemnly "They didn't come . . . they weren't giving up just yet. I'm sorry."

"Don't be . . . they made their choices and I'm sure they had good reasons. I can't thank you enough for what you did for us."

"I didn't do it for the Jedi, hell I even considered leaving Cain there but, in the end I knew this was what you wanted. To have hope that the Jedi can still survive."

Bayu walks over and the SPARTAN introduces the two "Bay this is Ahsoka Tano, Tano this is Bayu Cila."

Tano kneeled down and held out her hand "Pleasure meeting you Bay, are you doing ok?"

The Pantoran shook her hand "Yeah, thanks to Longarm I'm fine."

"That's good to hear, how about we get you something to eat?"

"Great!"

Ahsoka grinned as she stood up just before Lador added "I'm a little hungry myself, mind if I join you?"

James nodded "Ahsoka will take you to the cafeteria; Percival will have something for you all when you arrive."

Komari commented "I can't wait to actually taste something again. . ."

But Jorge added "You'll have something in the medical bay, first we got to check your vitals."

"Very well . . . I could use some rest as well."

Ahsoka turned to James "What're you going to do?"

He answered "I got a list of things that I can handle. Go ahead and make them feel at home."

"Alright" she grinned before she rests her hand on his shoulder and leave along with the others.

The SPARTAN-ll sighed for a brief moment, not from exhaustion but for relief that they weren't going to be alone in this endeavor, afterwards he heads off behind them to store the holocrons and make his way up to the command bridge to assess the situation on the galactic scale.

[Meanwhile, Wild Space]

Aboard the Covenant CSO-Class Supercarrier _Long Night of Solace_, currently residing in orbit over an uncharted world ripe with resources, Sav 'Artamee stood aboard the carrier's CIC command bridge overlooking the repair operations of the ship. It had been five long years of repairs and military reorganization, however with the aid of the hundreds of Huragok that survived the slipspace detonation over Reach had cut their time down by half, and the world they hung over was perfect for resource mining and fueling.

'Artamee stood silently watching the numerous monitors displayed throughout the large dimly lit control room until a Sangheili major approached him and reported "Sire, the heavy cruiser _Harmonious Condemnation_ has arrived and is awaiting your commands."

"Good . . ." Sav responded calmly "Have the cruiser fall into formation with the rest of the fleet; we grow stronger with every passing cycle."

"As you wish Sire."

The major marches off letting the de facto ruler back to observing the monitors. Courtesy of the world they claimed their own they were able to establish bases of operations around the more vibrant regions to acquire and process raw materials for ship construction and repairs. Now their strength has been bolstered to a great force of five CCS-Class Battlecruisers, one RCS-Class Armored Battlecruiser, six SDV-Class Heavy Corvettes including the _Ardent Prayer_, and now a newly constructed ORS-Class Heavy Cruiser has joined the ranks of the recently formed _Fleet of Second Consequence_.

Sav couldn't believe it only took them five years to get this far, albeit the Assembly Forges of the holy city _High Charity_ could've achieved such a feat in several days it was still everything he could've dreamed of.

"Fleetmaster . . ." a voice spoke out calm and with some authority.

'Artamee turned his head and spots a fellow Sangheili donning black spec-ops armor approaching him "Shev 'Vadamee . . . You have something to report?"

"I do indeed brother . . ." he comes to a stop next to 'Artamee and examines the monitors that surrounded them "I bring word that there is a new power rising against us."

"A new power? Surely it does not concern the demons?"

"No . . . this one rises from the remains of the Republic. A new Galactic Empire as the heretics put it."

"An empire? That would complicate our plans in the future, what is their strength?"

"They far outnumber us as well as outgunned" with a single wave of his hand over a terminal he brings up the holographic projection of the galaxy with a purplish border out lining this new threat "All of the known galaxy is under its rule, with the humans acting as the primary force standing against us."

"The humans? I understand they are different from the ones we have encountered in the past and neither foe hardly proven themselves a threat, save the demons."

"Yes brother, but we must tread carefully. Their interstellar travel is significantly faster and their armaments are more damaging than before."

"What do you recommend Shev?"

'Vadamee took a moment to ponder, taking their overall force and the Empire's into account, then suggests "Immediate action."

'Artamee looks at the spec-ops with a befuddled expression "For one as cautious as yourself, you seem eager to face our new adversary."

"I only seek out for our best interests, if we make our presence known they will face us, and when they face us they will be known to our wrathful might of our vessels. They will fear us."

"They will send more to challenge us."

"Then let them come, we must secure a presence away from our new world to ensure they do not disrupt our efforts here."

'Artamee invested some thought to what 'Vadamee has said, even though they were in wild space they knew this new Empire would try to gain as much control as possible, which means they will be expanding their territories and they will encounter the Covenant sooner or later. Shev was calling for a preemptive strike.

"Do you have a target in mind?" he asks.

"Yes brother" 'Vadamee responded as the galactic hologram shifted onto a small remote system not too far from their current location "This world would provide a necessary fortress to our cause, initial survey scans foretold an abundance of raw materials that could be used to further increase our power. The Empire currently has a small squadron in orbit over the planet utilizing those resources we require."

'Artamee was beginning to warm up to the idea, give the Empire something to fear and acquire even more resources to build more ships, vehicles, and facilities.

Then he gave his command "Very well 'Vadamee, I will assign you the ships and men you need to perform your task; act as the vanguard and secure orbital supremacy. From there the rest of the fleet will follow and purge the remaining ground forces from the surface."

Shev bowed his head placing his right hand over his chest "It will be done" and walks away.

As the Sangheili spec-ops treaded off the bridge, Sav was given a new thought about the Empire and the Covenant's means of surviving in this galaxy while cut off from the rest of the hegemony. While personally he wished to remain hidden and gather strength, he knew the Empire will eventually find them and send a fleet large enough to overwhelm them, he felt that Shev's plan was the proper course of action.

Make the Empire aware of their presence and make sure they think twice before attacking them.

[Two days later, Azloc System]

In orbit over Azloc lll, a frozen planet with a hardly hospitable climate and rich with natural resources, three Venator-Class Star Destroyers, now sporting the standard imperial dull grey, stood guard. The flagship of the fleet, the _Peacekeeper_, stood idle with its supporting cruisers flanking the sides.

Rear Admiral Gran, an Imperial captain and seasoned veteran of the Clone Wars responsible for various victories against the Separatist Navy, quietly watched out the viewport seeing the stars glisten in the blackness of space as he enjoyed the relative silence aside from the chiming monitors and muttering crewmen. It has been several weeks since his fleet was deployed to the Azloc System to begin mining for resources needed to the war effort, but now with the end of the war they were collecting minerals to expand their imperial influence throughout the galaxy.

A clone officer walked over and reports "Sir, the research outpost located close to the planet's northern pole reports they found something the snow."

"You didn't come all the way to tell me they found a rock or an angry native . . ." the Admiral retorts, his voice was firm and showed signs of age but its authority was either well respected or feared by lower ranking members.

"No Sir . . . they found a structure that doesn't match with any known records, its architecture is nothing like we've ever seen."

"And have they gained entry?"

"Negative, the entrance is sealed shut. The requisitioned for explosives but nothing left even a scratch."

"Interesting . . . send a report to Sector Command. Let them know what we've discovered."

"Right away Si-"

An officer operating down in the pits of the command bridge cuts the other off stating "Sir! Our sensors picked up four strange anomalies just on the edge of the system."

"Explain."

"It's unclear Sir. It's something we've never registered."

"Is it still occurring?"

"One moment" the clone responded before examining his console, he mutters "What?" and turns back to the Admiral "It's gone Sir . . . whatever it was it- it's gone."

"Well keep a look out for another anomaly, I don't want an-"

"Wait it's there again- seventy five thousand kilometers out!"

Gran quickly realizes the potential danger to the fleet, his voiced raised "Set the fleet on alert!"

As the clone acknowledges the order, Gran turns his attention to the view in front of him and already he spots a small array of bolts of lightning skipping across the empty vacuum of space. Only moments later did four pitch black voids suddenly tear open into reality in front of their eyes, the voids erupted into violent turbulent storms as a vessel of unknown origin emerged for the blackness of oblivion itself. The crafts were purple, sleek and bulbous, almost organic in design, with three smaller identical vessels appearing up front with another, much larger, warship appearing behind them and practically dwarfed the ISDs in sheer mass. Gran could only gaze in astonishment as the portals slowly retracted into nothingness and the four ships sat idly in front of them far outside of the Empire's weapons range.

"Four unidentified contacts outside of weapons range! Class unknown!" a terminal operator barks.

Another reports "Sir! We're receiving a transmission, audio only."

"Put it through" the Admiral orders, almost feeling he may regret it.

The clone worked and got the message to play, the voice was deep and full of calm collected hatred as it ushered fear and upmost authority:

"_Take heed humans, your time is at an end, for your destruction is the will of the gods! And we . . . we are their instruments!_"

That was all Gran needed to hear to give his command "Scramble all fighters and raise the shields, send word that the fleet is under attack to Sector Command!"

But a clone reports "We can't! They're jamming our communications!"

Another states "Sir! Energy buildup detected along the flagship's bow, looks like they're preparing to fire!"

"At seventy five thousand kilometers? No weapon has that kind of range, they must be-"

As he said those words, a lance of white light lashed out and struck the cruiser that flanked the _Peacekeeper's_ port side, the beam of concentrated highly energized plasma effortlessly pierced the ISD's shields that lasted for a mere three seconds before the kilometer long ship itself was gutted like a fish. The thin beam sliced through the heavy durasteel armor, like a lightsaber through a paper thin metal sheet, and caused tremendous damage to the entire hull from bow to stern, cutting through the main central hangar, cleaving through numerous decks and bays, and finally rupturing the Venator's main power core which resulted in the cruiser to immediately destroy itself. All of this was done in under eight seconds.

Gran watched in horror as the cruiser literally fall apart in halves, each section was riddled with explosions all across the hulls ensuring that the ship was no longer a threat to its attackers. Though it brought him some relief to see life pods fleeing the now lost cruiser, another beam of light cuts a swath through the other cruiser, having the nearly similar result; undefined destruction of ridiculous proportions.

He gave no second to dwell on the losses of the two cruisers and orders "Divert all power from the shields to the engines and weapons, have all fighters prepared for launch!"

A crewman argued "Sir no shields!? That will leave us defenseless!"

"It won't matter! Our shields won't hold against a weapon like that, we're defenseless either way! Now I want to get close to those ships as possible, if they can beat us at range it's time we show them what we can do."

"Right away!"

The ISD, as ordered, began to move forward with intent to engage the enemy at close range. However it began to occur to Gran that the enemy flagship hasn't fired another shot, one that would've destroyed him and his ship, and none of the other vessels were moving. He began to wonder about why he wasn't dead yet and what the unidentified contacts were doing, '_Perhaps they have to recharge . . ._' his first thought was.

But his moment passed when the cruiser eventually closed the gap at twenty thousand kilometers and an officer reports "Sir! The enemy flagship is moving ahead of the enemy fleet, they're heading right for us!"

Gran muttered "What are they doing? Why haven't fired another blast?"

Then another clone reports "Sir they're lowering their shields! What're they doing!?"

That's when the imperial commander realized '_It's a challenge . . ._'

[_Harmonious Condemnation_, CIC]

Aboard the ORS-Class Heavy Cruiser _Harmonious Condemnation_, Shev 'Vadamee stood silently watching the bridge crew under his command work eagerly to his demands knowing they have gone back to what they did best, killing humans. In the center of the command bridge, a massive holographic projection of Covenant fleet holding position while the ORS and the Venator-Class Star Destroyer _Peacekeeper_ were closing the gap between each other. The hologram then focused on the two flagships, the ORS-Class heavily outmatched the much smaller ISD, allowing 'Vadamee to gain a better insight at the duel about to unfold. He had been waiting for an honorable duel for the longest time since his fight with the SPARTAN-ll back on Ukio.

A Sangheili officer calls out "Shipmaster! The humans have entered weapons range and are closing!"

"Let them come closer, I want for them to show us what they are truly capable of."

"As you wish."

He was fortunate to know the cruiser's high-powered energy projectors were operable and gave him his long range ability to destroy the imperial warships from afar. He was also fortunate that, due to the lack of manpower in the Covenant force ever since the slipspace detonation over Reach, the newer models of the ships were more largely automated rather than needing a larger crew to operate. A good example of this enhanced automation was the _Condemnation_ itself, any ORS-Class would need a traditional crew of several thousand, now only needed several hundred to operate at optimum effectiveness with another several hundred to act as a capable ground invasion force.

The Venator was closing in the distance, all eight of the turbolaser gun batteries were directed forward awaiting the command to open fire, but Shev had a different idea and subtly orders "Correct our course, five degrees starboard."

The navigations officer acknowledged and relayed the order "Yes Shipmaster, changing course to starboard by five degrees."

As ordered, the _Condemnation_ gently changed course denying the _Peacekeeper's_ ability to unleash a full barrage with its guns and now forcing to rely on its four portside turret batteries to survive the imminent encounter.

"Shall we charge up our projectors?" the weapons officer asked.

"No, send available power to our port torpedoes and pulse lasers. I wish for this to be a fair fight."

"Yes Shipmaster."

An Unggoy shortly after reports "Sir! Energy signatures say they are diverting power from the engines to their main cannons."

Shev calmly muttered to himself as he watched the two cruisers slowly come side to side with another, allowing him to get an even clearer picture of the size comparison with the three thousand meter long ORS being over twice the size of the Venator, "So . . . this is how it unfolds."

The two warships were now side to side, several hundred meters from one another, and the Venator fires the first round sending a volley of destructive blue bolts of energized plasma onto the nanolaminate plated hull, with the DBY-827s at full power the guns were effortlessly smashing through Covenant armor. The ORS immediately responded with a volley of devastating plasma torpedoes and precise pulse laser, ripping and tearing apart the durasteel hull with relative ease. The two vessels traded blow after blow to one another relentlessly, laser fire piecing and causing significant damage to nanolaminate hull plating, plasma torpedoes boil away durasteel armor and pulse laser dissecting through critical hardpoints.

"Sire! We are taking significant damage to our port bow and midsection! Hull breaches on multiple decks!" a crewman reports with concern.

"Fear not officer" Shev reassures the crew "I suspect our opponent is not faring any better than we. Continue the attack, concentrate fire onto primary weapon decks."

As directed, the ORS launches a barrage of three energized torpedoes that rocketed their way through the emptiness of space until they slammed into the imperials' main gun batteries and caused devastation at an immense scale, completely vaporizing the turrets themselves and melting away at the decks below. With the primary armaments gone, the lone kilometer long Venator was helpless against the massive Covenant cruiser that was preparing to end this match once and for all.

[_Peacekeeper_, Command Bridge]

"Get to the pods now! Abandon ship!" Gran yelled over the top of his lungs as the men under his command scrambled to flee the bridge.

He knew that one day he would be defeated but never did he imagine it would be by such a seemingly unstoppable force, the battle was lost and all they could do now was to survive any way possible. As expected of naval command, Gran was the last to be standing on the bridge however just before he began to fall back to the pods he stares out to the black void of space, where the three smaller vessels lie dormant, and spots a number of pitch black void induced storms rupture into view allowing a fleet of similarly designed vessels, albeit larger and more menacing looking, emerge from the portals and make their approach to the planet he was supposed to be defending. He could only hope that the men on the ground will fare better than he.

[_Harmonious Condemnation_, CIC]

"Sire, the invasion fleet has arrived" an Unggoy crewman reports.

The holographic projector displayed the small arriving fleet of four CCS-Class Battlecruisers, two more SDV-Class Corvettes in addition to the three the _Condemnation_ arrived with including the _Ardent Prayer_, and the RCS-Class Armored Battlecruiser. The invasion fleet consisted of eleven vessels that were now converging on Azloc lll.

'Vadamee however wasn't watching his reinforcements approach the planet's orbit, instead he watched the numerous escape pods jettison themselves from the crippled cruiser that now lay adrift in space, and he commands "Send out the phantoms and secure those pods. I want the commander of that vessel on this bridge at the earliest convenience. If anyone shows resistance, kill them."

The Sangheili flight officer nods to Shev's order and performs his duty. 'Vadamee then turned his attention over to the Covenant fleet that was soon to be entering the planet's atmosphere, initial scans upon arrival reported scattered Imperial bases all across the planet surface consisting of both military and research installations. His role of achieving orbital supremacy was done, now it was the ground force's turn to take the planet.

[Research Outpost 17-B, Northern Polar Regions of Azloc lll]

_(Cue To Glory by Two Steps From Hell)_

The alarms have been sounded throughout the small remote base, communications lost with the orbiting fleet suggests a separatist attack was imminent. Troopers of the 52nd Artic Engineer Regiment rushed to set up defensive positions around the perimeter, portable anti-air cannons were set up along with anti-personnel and anti-tank emplacements.

Trooper Dray was sprinting across the open plaza of the base in his cold assault armor with his long DC-15A blaster rifle in hand, he could hear the thumping of footsteps rushing in different directions as a clone lieutenant barks out "Move it troopers double time! Move it!"

However it wasn't long when Dray looks up to the sky, heavily blanketed with stormy grey skies as blizzards blew around them, and spot a faint light of blue flash from within the clouds only moments later when a massive gaseous blob of plasma come falling down like meteorite until it smashed into the base's communications center. The immense blast utterly destroyed the structure, knocking Dray onto his back, and reducing it to nothing more than a smoldering slag heap with no survivors to be heard of.

The clone, along with several others that were close enough to be knocked back by the shockwave, steadily got back up to their feet and continued running off to man their positions while Dray continued watching the skies, hoping to find the source of the shot fired, and when he began to see more lights he braced himself for the worst. Out from the clouds a one thousand seven hundred and eighty two meter long warship appeared, long, sleek, gentle blue lights emitting from the ventral side, and almost organic in design, the vessel was unlike anything the troopers has ever seen. That was when they realized they were no longer dealing with the droid armies of the Separatist Alliance, this was far more worse.

Without a word, the deployed anti-air cannons aimed their barrels upwards and began firing high-powered bolts of energy up towards the looming CCS-Class Battlecruiser that hovered above them but each shot fired was countered by the cruiser's onboard energy shielding, effortlessly absorbing the miniscule amount of fire given off by the AA guns. Dray saw the guns were having no effect and quickly noticed smaller ships shooting out of the ship's port and starboard hangars, roughly the size of a LAAT gunship if not larger, and began their descent down onto the base grounds. Several troopers quickly turned their aim onto the descending phantoms but their blaster bolts either skipped across the nanolaminate hull with no effect or left scorched marks against the armor with no visible damage.

No matter the amount of blaster fire that was put onto the squadron of phantoms, it never stopped them to drop their payload of soldiers onto the field via a lit gravity well that appeared from the belly of the transport. One by one hostile ground units made ground fall, first came the stubby little grey skinned aliens that wore minimal armor and large breathing tanks on their back, second came a pair of frail birdlike figures that wielded a shielded gauntlet on their left arms, and lastly was a small squad of large aliens that were shielded and carried a heavier armament of small arms compared to the lesser species that assaulted the clones.

"Contact! Contact!" a trooper barked before he was struck in the chest by a green bolt of superheated plasma, boiling away his armor and skin.

"Push them back!" another roared as he returned fire, killing a pair of the small stubby aliens before being forced to cover.

Dray gave little thought taking aim at one of the bird creatures and fire a bolt from his rifle, but the alien swiftly reacted and threw up its shielded gauntlet to deflect the bolt in time. The clone was then immediately forced to cover behind a stack of crates that was behind him when a flurry of plasma and pink needles flew past him. He took a moment to recollect himself, the thought of something capable of easily destroying a fleet of ISDs and now bearing down on them was a little nerve racking, as he looked around himself to see the small regiment of brothers fight defiantly against this unprovoked attacker, some scored kills while others fell to enemy fire.

"Hold them back!" the regimental commander roared, signified by yellow markings on his armor, as he took up a spot next to Dray who stayed hunkered down to avoid incoming fire.

The commander fire off several quick bursts from his DC-15S carbine before a stray bolt slams into the side of the crate he hid behind forced him to duck down for a moment, that was when he saw Dray and asks "Why aren't you fighting trooper?" his voice was firm and somewhat disappointed like a father to a young child that has done wrong.

Dray apologized "Sorry Sir, just wasn't expecting something like this to happen."

"Well snap out of it and keep shooting. We have to hold them out until our reinforcements arrive!"

The trooper nodded to the commander's orders and propped himself up on a knee to take a shot at one of the stubby aliens that began to overwhelm the regiment's position. He pulls the trigger and sends a bolt downrange until it collided with the head of a grunt, killing it instantly in a display of sparks and blue florescent blood, before shifting his aim onto one of the larger aliens that was wielding a blue dual edged sword that reminded him of the Jedi as it cleaved through a sergeant's chest. And despite the Emperor's decree that all Jedi has become a traitor and must be killed on sight, he was really wishing there was a Jedi to save them from this hell.

He takes aim and fires off another shot however when the bolt collided with the alien, the energy shielding took the hit flaring a bright blue, and angered the creature to begin charging him with a blood chilling roar from its quadruple hinged mandibles. Dray began to panic and fire at the oncoming warrior, the Sangheili's shields continue to shrug off the incoming rounds until it finally broke with the fourth blast but even then it continued to charge with rage with each passing step.

The commander spots the elite charging Dray and quickly shoves the trooper aside yelling "MOVE DRA-" before the energy sword had cleaved through his body, the blade eviscerating the regimental commander into halves of his former self.

When the trooper was forcibly shoved aside onto the ground he watched his commanding officer be cut down just as the alien gave a loud thunderous laugh claiming the kill before turning to him and prepare to take another, but Dray drew his DC-17 pistol and began placing shot after shot into the Sangheili's chest with each blast slowing the alien down until it stumbled and fell dead. The clone was frozen beyond rational thought after seeing what has become of his commander before a bolt of plasma struck the ground next to him and snapped him out of his shock, he quickly starts searching for his rifle only to find it sliced in half when the commander saved him from the sword. So he grabs the commander's carbine instead and continue to fight, now angry over the loss and bound determine to kill every single inhuman bastard he saw. He quickly lands two bolts onto an unsuspecting jackal and places a third into a grunt's chest before the Covenant forces noticed his position and opened fire sending plasma and needles in his direction. However he holds his ground and continues laying down accurate fire onto the advancing hostiles, killing two more Unggoy and another Kig-Yar, until a needle fired from a rifle found its mark in his right shoulder knocking him down onto the ground screaming out in pain. Adrenaline took over, flooding out the sheer excruciating pain, and prompted him to rip the pink shard out of his arm before resuming the fight.

He noticed that other troopers were beginning to follow his example, fighting harder than ever before to avenge the fallen with rage, and push the Covenant back with newfound determination for survival. The Covenant were quickly forced on the retreat just as a flight squadron of Imperial ARC-170 Starfighters escorting a wing of V-Wings from a nearby airbase soared through the blistering winds with their engines roaring to engage the battlecruiser that hung over the research outpost. The fighters opened up with a barrage of blaster fire and proton torpedoes, the laser fire was shamefully absorbed into the shields while the torpedoes pierced through and caused catastrophic damage to the cruiser's starboard midsection, utterly obliterating the two hangars that inhabited that section and undoubtedly killed a lot of crewmembers aboard.

Watching the fighters deal such a heavy blow encouraged the troopers to continue fighting until the invaders were now in full retreat with phantom dropships swooping in to recover the troops and provide air support with their array of plasma cannons and concussion launchers. The clones, despite the losses the gunships were inflicting, continued to push until the last of the Covenant was finally driven out of the base.

"We got them on the run!" a trooper cheered as many others did.

Dray smiled knowing they were strong enough to fend off such a determined enemy until he heard the blood gurgling chuckle of an elite that laid on the cold ground behind him.

He and two others turned to see the downed Sangheili and approached with a clone asking "What's so funny split mouth?"

The elite was on the verge of death, he had suffered a lethal shot to his abdomen, as he breathed heavily while chuckling "Herherh" he coughed spitting up purple blood before he spoke "You think you won the day humans?"

"Certainly kicked your tail outta our base."

"This . . . is only the beginning. The will of our gods is strong . . . you're nothing more than an insignificant insect to our faith . . . the Great Journey does not wait for those who are unworthy. But our actions today have made us worthy of salvation" he spoke as he struggled to point his hand up towards the sky.

The troopers followed the Sangheili's glare and saw the cruiser, that was swatting down the fighters like flies, and a massive buildup of energy massing at the center of the warship's ventral side.

As the charge up progressed to critical levels the elite began recite a religious verse:

"None shall walk our path

None deserve its mystery

We own the right to pass

That right is carved in history

A gift bestowed by aeons

A future gifted from the past

The signs are there for all to see

The Journey waits for us alone"

The cruiser's charging sequence was complete, Dray and many of the base inhabitants attempted to flee the base on any means available to them, but in the end it did not matter as the CCS unleashed a beam of pure plasma down onto the base below glassing and killing everything that was inside. The glassing of Azloc lll has begun.

[_Harmonious Condemnation_]

Aboard the CIC Shev 'Vadamee watched the reports flood in. Numerous imperial installations were being glassed, some from the surface while others were being destroyed outright from orbit. He was pleased to know everything was proceeding exactly as planned and that the planet will be theirs in a matter of hours. He hears the hatch chime and open behind him followed up with a pair of heavy footsteps accompanied by a lighter set, he turns to see two Sangheili Ultras, signified in their pure white armor, escort an aged human donning an imperial uniform that represented admiralty.

The human's face was stern and rough, showing that he had more than his fair share of battles, and for that 'Vadamee respected that "I suppose you are the commander of the fleet we laid to waste?"

The admiral took a step forward, without any interference from the crew, and confidently introduced himself "I am Rear Admiral Gran Ikna of the Imperial Navy, your senseless act today is considered high treason against the Empire."

Shev ignored the latter part of what Gran had said and introduced himself "I am Shev 'Vadamee, second in command of the _Fleet of Second Consenquence_, and righteous inquisitor to the holy Covenant."

"The Covenant? I never heard of such a religious cult and I can assure you your control in the system will not last long" Gran spoke defiantly.

Shev chuckled, finding the human's talk all too amusing, "A cult? Is that what you believe we are? No Admiral, we are a thriving force that exists on many worlds. Countless armies, fleets, and more are ready to serve in the name of our gods. Our very purpose is to eradicate the heretic filth that dares to stand in our way to glorious salvation. You."

"I am but a man, how could I alone stop armies and fleets at a time?"

"Not _you_" 'Vadamee growled "Humans . . . all the same. You were all left here by the gods for a reason, you were not fit to go onto the Great Journey like our lords and saviors had did before."

Gran fell silent afterwards, trying to understand the reasoning behind the Covenant's actions for such a drastic attack on Imperial territory, Shev continues "However it has been shown to us on numerous occasions that your kind can be stubborn and resourceful, just like yourself in today's skirmish. I congratulate you."

"You call that a skirmish? That was outright slaughter!" the admiral protested.

"And yet I allowed you the chance to attack, even with your advanced capabilities you are still weak as ever."

"If you want to kill me then do it already, I don't see the point in keeping me around if we're going to talk."

'Vadamee then started to approach the admiral who stayed his ground "If it is death you seek, then I will grant your wish" and unveils an small energy blade erected from his right gauntlet.

Gran closes his eyes, expecting the worst possible pain imaginable, until he and 'Vadamee heard a Sangheili officer call out "Shipmaster! One of our scouts have located a relic near the northern regions."

Shev stopped dead in his tracks, he couldn't believe what he heard, and turns to ask in a low grave voice "Are you sure?"

"Yes Sire! They dispatched a small force of heretics attempting to defile the holy relic and have secured the area."

Gran watched in confusion and fear as the Sangheili deactivate his energy dagger as he chuckled and turned back to him "Well Admiral, it appears we may have some use for you after all . . ."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	34. Reassessment

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 34**

**"****Reassessment"**

[UNSC _Vanguard_, two days later]

The Halberd-Class Destroyer was making its last slipspace jump of a long and complicated series of randomly calculated jumps after their rescue operation on Coruscant to ensure imperial forces would lose chase and cease pursuit. SPARTAN James, Ahsoka, Jedi Knight Mattis and Komari were gathered in the ship's training bay to help young Bayu Cila with her training to become a Jedi. At the moment Ahsoka and Mattis are helping the youngling master her ability to lift and move objects via the Force while the SPARTAN-ll stood off to the side to watch and Cain relaxing on a bench, using the Force to 'see' what was happening.

"Concentrate young one, the Force flows through all of us. Find it, use it, and you will succeed" Mattis reassured Cila as she tried to lift a small UNSC supply crate.

But she was only so far managing to make it tremble which prompted Tano to step over to James and ask in a whisper "What did you put in that crate?"

Longarm answered reassuringly in the same manner "It's empty. I think she has problems with her concentration."

Ahsoka glanced over to Bayu, who was trying her hardest, and turned back to him "Yeah, she needs something to focus on, something she's familiar with."

The SPARTAN looked over to the youngling and thought for a moment "Perhaps it's about time to take a break from Force training, she's starting to look frustrated."

"What are you suggesting?"

"The one thing she's been wanting to do for some time."

At that moment Longarm walks over to Bayu and Lador and states "I think a break from Force training is in order."

Mattis raised an eyebrow "I'm sorry, but what do you know about the Force my metal friend?"

"I know that it requires focus and patience which is something Bay simply does not have at the moment. I recommend moving on to something she's been eager to do, constructing her lightsaber."

James received a warm grin from Bay but Mattis argued "A Jedi must rely on the Force, she can't live her life by simply using her saber."

"I understand that, but as long as the saber isn't completed it will continue to bother her. Perhaps completing it will clear up her mind a bit."

Mattis couldn't argue with that, it is true that Cila has been wanting to complete her lightsaber for so long that it started to have an effect on her mind, perhaps he was right about something, he sighs and agrees "Very well, Cila let's have a look at your lightsaber."

Longarm stepped over to grab the crate and brought it over for Bay to use as a table as she grabbed her hilt and disassembled it to its finer components, she explains as she carefully examined each piece "I've been trying to make it work but every time there's something wrong with it. I just don't understand."

Ahsoka and Mattis began examining the pieces as well, nothing was missing nor out of place, until they found that one of the components, the small power cell, appeared to have burnt out and rusted away "Well there's your problem Bayu, it must've burnt out after you activated it several times when the saber wasn't built right" Ahsoka comments.

"Great! How am I going to find another power cell!?" Cila exclaimed now feeling defeated.

It was then when Lador notices Longarm approaching them and asks the Pantoran "Can I see that cell?"

She nodded in compliance and handed the small power cell to the SPARTAN who then examined it closely, after a few turns and glares he asks "How much power is needed to activate the saber?"

Mattis answered "A lot just to ensure a consistent flow of energy to keep the blade ignited. Why?"

"Well . . . with Percival's help I could probably build one. Won't be as trusted as what you're used to but if I do it right then I think it'll work."

"Really Longarm!? That's great!" Cila smiled "Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it . . ." the SPARTAN answered as he came down to a knee in front of her "And maybe when I come back we can get back to your Force training, how does that sound?"

"Sounds great- but before you go there's something I got to ask."

"Such as?"

"You have a lightsaber too, but you're not a Jedi. Is it yours?"

Longarm glanced down to see the energy sword hilt latched to his right thigh, he stood up afterwards and takes it into his hand "Well originally no, it belonged to someone else" he began to recount the day aboard the Covenant corvette that attacked a Republic cruiser "I earned it through fighting its owner, they had a sense of honor and would've preferred dying by their own sword than anything else, I was obligated to give him that honor."

"Huh . . . well how does it work?"

By cue Longarm ignites the sword, the two curved blades of pure plasma erecting from the sides of the hilts, and gently waved the blades about with elegance.

"Such a peculiar design . . ." Mattis noted.

The SPARTAN explains "The blades are pure plasma sealed in by a magnetic field that's generated by a power cell in the hilt, much like your own, but the design of the curved blades can allow me to 'grip' your saber and render you immobile where I can deliver a final blow through other means."

He deactivates the sword and places it back on his thigh when Cila chirped "That's so cool."

"Yes while you dabble in physical combat with such weapons" Cain rebuked from his bench "There are always other alternatives to pacifying your enemies."

Ahsoka saw that Komari was trying to start another disagreement with them, he's been doing that ever since he walked out of the med bay on his own against Percival's orders for bed rest, and gestured the SPARTAN "You should go on and get started on that power cell."

He nodded in agreement and begins to walk towards the exit, with Bay stating as she collected her components "I'm coming with you!" with no objections from the SPARTAN, however Mattis was hesitant to stop her but he eventually lets her go.

He and Tano watched the two walk out the bulkhead hatch before she comments "She's really attached to him. Been like that since he found her."

"I can understand why, with the death of her master she had no one to turn to- no one to look up to as a parenting figure, until he came" he pauses for a moment and asks "Are you sure he will be a positive influence for Bayu?"

She nodded in agreement "While he's a soldier at heart, he's been trained well by others. He knows right from wrong."

Cain was standing up from his bench arguing "Young Cila should not become too attached to Longarm, or less she fall victim to the dark side should something happen to him."

"You forget he's a SPARTAN, Master Komari, they don't go down easy" she retorts just before she bid the two farewell and left the training bay to head for the bridge.

"Let us hope you are right . . ."

[Command Bridge]

Aboard the _Vanguard's_ command deck, Jorge was sitting back in an operator seat watching the spectrum of blue lights of Slipstream Space pass by in a brilliant display, he was relaxing in his armor, with his helmet lying in his lap, trying to understand the kind of position they were in, more specifically he and his brother in arms.

They were both trapped in an unknown and hostile galaxy with no way to reach or contact the UNSC, or anyone they knew as of that matter, and they were severely outgunned and outnumbered by several million to one. And as of recently there was a major shift of power that resulted in the extermination and prosecution of the Jedi Order who were now being hunted down across the galaxy and killed as they were deemed traitors to the Empire, and with them harboring four of them aboard the _Vanguard_ he knew the Empire will not be so kind to them. He didn't like it at all and he was sure James didn't like it either.

But fortunately there were still options for them, the first was to go into hiding and virtually disappear from the face of the galaxy to be never heard of again for the rest of their days. They wouldn't have to fight a futile war and it was their best chance to ensure they all survived, all they had to do was to find a remote planet in the outer-rim territories and live a life there. The second was something James and he would outright refuse to do, though the idea came to mind for the briefest second, they could always hand the Jedi over to Imperial authorities and hope to be granted amnesty, though personally he couldn't go through with that action even if he was ordered to and he knew James would rather kill himself or face the entire Covenant hegemony alone before even thinking about that.

He soon sets the grim thoughts aside and closed his eyes as he laid back in his chair remembering the days being in the UNSC and on his homeworld, Reach. He began to think back to his team that he worked alongside during his final months on his planet before he activated the slipspace bomb that sent him here, Noble Team. He shared a close bond with each members of the team, the most notable was Noble Six who was the most recent addition to the team after the loss of their own at the Battle of Fumirole, it was because of Thom-A293 that the UNSC was able to hold the Covenant off for a few more months before the planet eventually fell. He grinned knowing that being subtle was never Six's strong suit during the time of the Covenant invasion on the planet, but it also pained him knowing how their last time of seeing each other ended with him throwing his fellow SPARTAN out of the _Ardent Prayer's_ hangar bay shortly before activating the bomb. He sighed in grievance wondering what happened to Reach after what he done, a little part of him hoped that the planet was truly saved, but he knew the Covenant would always return in greater numbers. It was likely that his home has fallen.

His ears picked up the distinct hiss of the door hatch sliding open behind him, light footsteps were heard and he immediately knew who it was but he didn't bother to greet her, and soon enough he heard a chair next to him being moved which meant that Ahsoka was sitting next to him.

"Hey Jorge" she spoke with a relaxed tone.

"Ma'am" he responded as he kept his eyes closed.

He heard her lay back in her chair as well, possibly to relax and watch the lights, and give a sigh of calm "It's been quiet the last few days hasn't it?"

"Hm."

The togruta fell silent for several minutes, allowing him to come back to his thoughts.

Ahsoka glanced at the SPARTAN relaxing then turned her eyes back to the viewports; while he's reminiscing of the old days in the UNSC she was beginning to put thought about any other possible Jedi that could've survived the Empire's efforts. The most concerning to her was Anakin, when James had returned to the ship he had told her that he couldn't find Anakin during the operation but stated with hope that he was likely not at the temple at the time of the attack. She could only hope that they find him soon.

Percival's avatar constructed itself on the central holotable and reports "We will be dropping out of slipspace in just a few moments."

Ahsoka asked "Any idea where we're dropping out?"

"Somewhere labeled the Unknown Regions along the Outer-Rim Territories, it doesn't sound likely to be under Imperial control so it is relatively safe for now."

She begins to stand up from her seat and walked over to the holotable and agreed "Yeah but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on the sensors, there's no telling what could be out here."

"Of course, I'll maintain a close watch in our zone."

As he said those words, the spectrum of blue began to ripple and distort just before an opening back to realspace tore open in front of the destroyer, the ship trembled gently beneath her feet as it made its transition out of the sub-dimension and subsided shortly after. It's been several days since she saw the stars again, it brought back a small sense of familiarity to her.

"Checking . . . no contacts within scanning range, we're in the clear" Percival reported with a proud grin.

"Great, now we should probably figure out what to do next" Ahsoka comments shortly before looking over to the SPARTAN that still sat in his seat "Wanna help us Jorge?"

The big man gives a small sigh before muttering "Yeah" as he climbed out of his seat with his helmet in hand and walked over to the table to discuss their next move.

[James's quarters]

Longarm was well underway in constructing a power cell for Bay's lightsaber, who was currently standing close behind him looking over his shoulder as he slowly and carefully assembled the pieces, that he managed to scrounge up from the _Vanguard's _storage bays, together with his pen-sized micro-wielder. Cila watched with fascination as he silently wired and wielded the tiny components into place.

She had to ask "You think it'll work Longarm?"

"This power cell contains a ion breeder, a rough concept Percival developed that recycles the power during activation and should keep you saber ignited as long as you want, all I have to do is to make sure the reactive chamber is properly aligned with the connecting node and the heat sink."

"You really didn't answer the question . . ."

". . . yeah, it'll work."

The SPARTAN-ll got back to work as Bay looked over onto his bed and found a damaged black helmet that somewhat resembled a clone's helmet, it appeared to be in the middle of repairs when James started on her power cell, and sat down on the cot before picking the helmet up in her hands. The Mk. V EOD helmet was much heavier than she expected because unlike a clone's which was primarily made of plastoid this was built with the somewhat heavier and more robust titanium alloy commonly used by the UNSC in nearly everything they use from body armor to starship construction. She examined the helmet further, finding scratches and burn marks across the metallic casing, and carefully slides it over her head. In an instant upon putting it on a blue Heads Up Display system came to life bringing up several operable systems such as radar, shield ratings, user callsign, and a centralized crosshair that remained in place. However it wasn't long until some of the display settings began to blink red as a sign of a malfunction but she didn't mind as she continued to get a feel for the helmet for what it is.

She noticed James had glanced at her wearing the helmet and she asked "How come you don't take your armor off? Doesn't it get heavy after a while?"

"Not really, our armor is neurologically connected to our minds, you can say it's sort of like a second skin for SPARTANs."

"Oh that's pretty cool, but still don't you take it off?"

"Once in a while."

"I wonder what you look like without it."

He grinned lightly to that comment "You should ask Ahsoka about it, she seen me once without it."

"Hm, maybe I will when I see her next time. So where were you born?"

Longarm answered as he was putting the final pieces together "A planet called New Harmony, it was a calm and beautiful place to be on. Bustling cities and spaceports, calm grasslands that almost looked like a waving sea when the wind blew, and the small communities out on the frontiers were always peaceful where everyone helped out one another."

Bay could only imagine now what New Harmony was like "I'd like to go there some day."

"I'm sure you would . . ." he answered, hiding the pain under his helmet and calm tone, it was sad knowing she'll never see such a place after it was burned by the Covenant long ago during the war, a damn shame it was.

"And . . . done" he remarks, finally completing the power cell.

Cila took the helmet off, sitting it back on the cot, and jumped up to see the power source for herself "It looks just like the diatium power cells we use."

"And it should be more durable than the first, seeing how the titanium-lead alloy should hold everything in place. Now let's see if you can put it together."

She nodded in confidence as he held out the power cell and took it before sitting herself on the cot and disassemble her lightsaber down to the tiny components. Longarm remained seated in his chair as he watched her close her eyes and begin to concentrate with the Force, one by one the pieces were lifted into the air all of which moved flowingly as they gradually came together. First was the inner components such as the energy gate, field energizers, focusing lens, the crystal mount, as well as the power cell that connected fairly well along with it to his surprise. Then came some of the more larger and outer pieces to the puzzle, the metallic casing along with the activation stud, blade emitter, handgrip, power adjustments, and other fine little details that was put into it. Just like Bay when he was building her power cell, he was utterly fascinated as he silently watched the final pieces come together into the final build.

The lightsaber was fully constructed once again just as Bay opened her eyes and held the weapon in her hands, she carefully examined it but felt she needed a fresh pair of eyes after constructing it several times over.

She climbs off the cot and hands James her lightsaber for inspection "Here."

He takes the hilt into his hands and closely examined it to the best of his knowledge, everything seemed to be in place from he was able to tell because he knew that each lightsaber was unique so this wasn't like inspecting an assault rifle fresh off the manufacturing line.

He turns the hilt over in his hands several times over before he hands it back to her stating with confidence in his calm voice "Go for it."

She nodded and stepped back to get some distance, she then closed her eyes and drew a breath of anxiety mixed with nervousness, and with the press of the button a bright blue blade of plasma erected from the hilt with a loud swish, it was an astounding success. The SPARTAN felt joy upon seeing the pantoran's face light up with amazement and awe knowing she finally completed the weapon, and it surprised him that the makeshift power cell he created worked flawlessly which made him felt proud to bring a smile to her face.

"It finally works!" Cila cheered as she held the saber in her hand before she deactivates it and quickly threw her arms around the SPARTAN's torso "Thank you so much! You don't know how long I've been waiting for this!"

James was taken back, he should've expected something like this from her, and places a hand on her shoulder "You're welcome" he answered with satisfaction in his voice.

Then Bay had an idea that she enjoyed so well "Maybe you can teach me too!"

But Longarm had to put the breaks on her train of thoughts "Let's slow down a bit, perhaps it's better if Ahsoka or Lador teaches you. I'll admit I'm not the best swordsman around here."

Then her smile shrunk to a small grin "Oh . . . ok" she answered understandingly.

He noticed how displeased she was with the thought so he had another idea "But, I suppose I can teach you some self-defense techniques you could use later on."

Her grin grew a little which made him smile a little when he pats her shoulder and said "Come along, let's show the others" and stood up to the door with her following.

[Command Bridge]

"That's not good news at all . . ." Jorge commented upon learning what happened the last few days.

"Looks like the Empire is expanding its territories as fast as they can, and they're doing a good job at it" Ahsoka remarked as she watched the Imperial galactic border span across the stars in the simulation Percival provided with the data he received from the Holonet shortly after exiting Slipspace.

The AI's avatar walked across the table through the holographic presentation of the galaxy and pointed out to one peculiar front the Empire had not bothered to push on, instead it was pushed back, "And strangely enough there appears to be some resistance here, in the Azloc System along the outer rim. It would seem that somebody doesn't take too kindly to Imperial rule."

"Azloc?" Ahsoka wondered "The last time I heard there was a military research station on Azloc lll but there was no civilian presence on the planet, it's a frozen planet anyways."

Jorge then began to ask "Think it's the Separatists I've been hearing so much about over the Net?"

"Azloc's too far out of the Separatist's way and it doesn't hold any importance other than being rich in raw materials. It can't be pirates- they're too ill-equipped and hardly organized to go up against star destroyers and trained troopers."

Jorge began to ponder as well, no reasonable thought came to mind until he asks "Think it could be rebels?"

Ahsoka hadn't thought of it "Maybe . . . they had to have some serious firepower to drive off the Empire from that system."

But soon enough Percival intervenes with the answer "Well I regret to inform you that is was neither. I've been digging around the occurrence in the Azloc System and turned up some rather disturbing news. I suggest James be here as well, he would want to hear this."

Then by cue the entrance to the bridge swished open with Bay running in with joy and Longarm calmly walking in behind her, Jorge remarks "Huh, ask and you shall receive."

Cila ran up to Ahsoka holding her lightsaber hilt in hand "Ahsoka it works! My lightsaber works!"

Ahsoka quickly put concerning matter aside and turned her attention to the overjoyed Pantoran "Did James's power cell work?"

"Yeah! I can't thank him enough."

James chuckled "She's not lying, she's been saying thank you on the way here the whole time."

Ahsoka grinned and stated to Bayu "Maybe later I can help train you some of the basic forms of lightsaber combat."

"Ok I can wait" she answered with a small grin, and then noticed everyone were in the middle of something before she came in "What're you guys talking about in here anyways?"

James added "I'm wondering the same thing."

Jorge and Percival glanced at one another before the AI reported "Well we were monitoring the recent advances of Imperial advances when I noticed one front that was pushed back in the Azloc System."

"Pushed back? You mean the Empire faced heavy resistance?"

"Yes, but not by pirates or insurrectionists."

"Was there any military reports on what happened?"

"Actually yes. An escort cruiser that was attached to the defense fleet was on a patrol run when it returned to Azloc lll only to find eleven vessels of unknown classifications, one of them three kilometers long, commencing orbital bombardments on strategic locations all across the planet. Now this is where things are starting to sound rather familiar- in the reports it mentioned that each vessel all shared the same purple bulbous design architecture and most of which were firing a large scale directed energy weapon that emitted a bluish beam of highly energized plasma. I'm sure you all knows what this means . . ."

Everyone shared their concerned looks with each other, they knew what happened, the Covenant was back and in greater numbers.

Ahsoka had to ask with worry "How? How did the Covenant get more ships I thought there was only one."

Jorge reminded her "Don't forget about the supercarrier, that thing is still in play."

But James was mainly focused on one detail in Percival's report "What we need to know is where these other ships came from, and why they decided to attack Azloc lll. Is the Empire making a response to the attack Percival?"

"Vague reports are hinting that the Sujimis Sector Command has been pulling assets from existing deployments in the sector and forming a fairly large task force to deal with the Covenant. They will be deploying within the next two days."

Jorge wondered "So where do we go from here?"

A new voice asked as well "Yes, where do we go from here Longarm?"

Everyone turned to see Cain Komari and Lador Mattis already stepping through the hatch before coming to a stop at the holotable, everyone was now looking at James for guidance but even then he didn't know what to do. They could barely stand up to a shielded Covenant corvette let alone eleven warships, and they were definitely in no position to start a conventional war with the Galactic Empire, not with the strength they had.

"I don't know . . ." he answered "We're only a mere destroyer against two massive fleets that overwhelms us in every way imaginable, both opponents have us outnumbered by a hundred thousand to one."

Jorge grinned "That never stopped us humans in our war."

Lador nodded in agreement "We Jedi had held our ground against countless waves of droids over the course of the Clone Wars, I'm sure a few more xenos and Stormtroopers won't be that different."

"Plus we still have a tactical element on our side, we could move anywhere in the galaxy without being tracked by the Empire which allows us to move more freely thanks to slipspace, and we have enough firepower and ordnance to sustain a small gurella war against a superior foe for months" Percival added.

Ahsoka grinned along with everyone else, giving the confidence she always has "And we have something that Empire hates and the Covenant fears, Jedi and SPARTANs."

And finally Bayu adds "And most of all, we have each other. If we stay together then we'll much stronger."

It was as if though everyone was warming up for a fight, save for Komari who held a straight face for the moment, and they all seemed waiting with confident grins on their faces for James's order seeing how he was the commander of the _Vanguard_ and everyone's trusted ally and friend.

Longarm went over the information in his mind, seeing the risks in attacking either the Covenant or the Empire, however he did consider that they were virtually off the galactic grid being in the Unknown Regions which would allow them time to gain more information and play things out more carefully. He glances towards Cain and thought for a moment, and then he came up with an idea.

He mutters "Maybe the Covenant is doing us a favor . . ."

"What do you have in that head of yours?" Jorge asks.

"The Covenant- it's already engaged with the Empire on one front, so how about we make a front on our own against the bigger fish."

"Forcing the Empire on a two-front war? It's not a bad start" Ahsoka comments wondering where Longarm is going with this.

"Yeah but like he said, we only have a destroyer that can only stand up against one cruiser. How do you expect us to hold a front all by our lonesome selves?"

"Because Jorge our front is going to go beyond conventional warfare with all our ships, armor, and weaponry. We're going to hit the Empire from a different angle."

Ahsoka and Jorge gave each other a concerning look with the former stating "We're not following . . ."

Longarm looked over to Komari, who was too trying to understand what the SPARTAN was getting at, and asks "Cain, didn't you say earlier that there are always other ways to defeating an enemy?"

"Somewhere along those lines . . . might I ask what you're getting at SPARTAN?"

"We give the Empire another thing to worry about, open rebellion."

Everyone stood in silence as James went on "Back in the days before we made contact with the Covenant, the UNSC was already having its hands full with multiple insurrections popping up along the outer reaches of controlled space. Every time we quell one world, two more would spring up spewing propaganda to have more systems fall within their ranks. I think we can do the same here."

"Incite rebellion against the Empire? Why that could cause some serious dilemmas even for a military super power. But do you see this possible?" Lador wondered.

"We may have Jedi and SPARTANs but there's one crucial thing we need to start a rebellion on a large scale, we need a voice. A voice that people can rally behind, someone that can be the face of the first rebellion. Perhaps a political figure that shows some distaste for the Empire's ways ever since its beginning."

Cain mentioned "If it is a politician we are looking for then I'm afraid Senator Bail Organa would not be our candidate, he values his planet too much to risk a uprising against the Empire. That goes for other senators that may feel the same."

James thought for a moment then asks "What about Senator Amidala? The one we escorted on Toydaria?"

Ahsoka agreed "Yeah, but she wouldn't resort to violence like that, not yet. I'll go ahead and contact her-"

But Percival interjected "I'm afraid that won't be possible."

"Why?"

"At first I wasn't aware of a 'Amidala' but when you mentioned it, the name has appeared several times in recent broadcasts over the Net. I deeply regret to inform you she passed away four days ago."

Tano's eyes were firmly locked on the holographic WWl british officer, her face displayed confusion and utter distraught "What? H-how did this happen?"

"Official Imperial records states that she, along with other senators, was killed by a rogue Jedi shortly after the Imperial attack on the Temple. Her funeral will be held in two days from now on her homeworld of Naboo . . ."

Jorge noticed Ahsoka's pained expression and asks "Ma'am?"

But the young togruta made no response as tears tried to break free from her eyes, Amidala was one of her longtime friends and someone she deeply respected, James informs his brethren "Ahsoka and Senator Amidala were . . . close friends" he then turns to her "Ahsoka, do you need a moment?"

"How are you not affected by this?" she asks doing her best not to get choked up in this wondering how someone like James was able to keep his calm.

"I am, more than you know, but . . . we SPARTANs just become adjusted for this sort of thing. Look I'm sorry, I knew you and her were very close and it must be very hard. Do need a moment by yourself?"

She then wiped her tears away from her eyes with her arm answering "No . . . I just- I just need time to deal with it, but not now."

The SPARTAN-lls nodded to that with Longarm acknowledging that "Alright . . ." then spoke to everyone "This is why we need something to rally behind, someone who would be willing stand up for people like Senator Amidala."

The Jedi thought for a moment, nobody turning up any answers until Ahsoka remembered someone "I think I know someone."

Everyone turned their attention to her, waiting for her to further explain, "An old friend from not too long ago, he and I known each other since we first met on Raxus and several times later on. The last time I heard he was the newly appointed senator of Onderon."

James then asked "What's his name?"

"Lux Bonteri . . ."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	35. On our way to the ball

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 35**

**"****On our way to the ball"**

[Thirteen hours later, Hyperspace on route to Onderon]

"So Bonteri was a Separatist back during the war until he was anointed Senator for his people?" James asks sitting in the co-pilot seat of the Gozanti-class cruiser, currently outfitted in regulated ODST BDU as per their mission.

"Right, I think he wanted to honor his mother's wishes and end the war before anyone else had to die. It was his mother and him that made me realize that there's always two sides of everything" Ahsoka answered as she too relaxed in her seat, watching the stars fly pass them.

"I say that's a lesson well learned. But sometimes there are things that we could never understand . . ." the SPARTAN sighed underneath his breath.

"Like the Covenant?"

"Exactly . . ."

"So they're waging a war against humanity all for this 'Great Journey'? What's so great about it?"

"Nothing . . . it's just an excuse for them to commit genocide against humans and those that aligns themselves with us. Though what I do like is that they branded us SPARTANs as demons, monsters that dared to halt their journey, and should be feared. Back in the day we were the most fearsome soldiers on the field, Covenant would run if they even heard we were close by."

"You still are . . . give it some time and maybe the Empire will start calling you the same."

James chuckled liking the idea "Heheh maybe."

He looks over to the togruta, finding her donning the same type of armor minus the heavy shoulder pauldrons and combat greaves, and she was still trying to adjust to the suit, shifting herself from time to time to make herself at least somewhat more comfortable. Though she wasn't complaining, the armor provided better protection from blaster fire than her usual clothing that she left on the _Vanguard_ and it would make it a lot more difficult for Imperial officials to recognize her as a Jedi. He decided to run the plan one last time through his head.

Before they left the destroyer Percival studied Onderon and its recent activities and learned that the Imperial Administration is planning a ball in the planet's capital, Iziz, in preparation for unveiling something that would help the Empire enforce their rule over their systems. Ahsoka and he would enter the city and acquire the appropriate needs to infiltrate the dance and secure Lux Bonteri, Tano stated that she would handle Lux, feeling that if James was assigned the duty he might have to knock the senator unconscious for unnecessary reasons, and proceed to exit the city and perform a series of random jumps to throw off the supposedly pursuing Imperial ships off their scent. Securing Lux will give them an edge against the Empire and cause groups to incite insurrection against their tyrannical rulers while others are prompted to leave seeing that even the mighty Emperor's will couldn't keep them protected.

The hyperspace before them began to distort and the ship dropped out into Onderon's outer orbit, there they could see the lush jungle planet below with Imperial Venators maintaining their positions in the atmosphere. It was time for them to make their approach to the surface.

"_Unidentified vessel this is the Imperial cruiser Concord, state your business in this system_" an Imperial officer demanded over an open channel, coming from one of the looming cruisers that was the closest to the Gozanti.

Tano looked over to Longarm and motioned him to answer, he presses down on a communications transponder and answered "We're looking to sell some goods down on the surface."

"_What sort of goods?_" the officer asked sounding curious.

The SPARTAN glanced over to her, waiting for an answer until she whispered something, and answered hesitantly "Fruit . . . from Saleucami."

"_Ah, exotic fruits then. Transmit your security codes so that we may confirm._"

Ahsoka flips a switch and sends the Imperial cruiser the codes that they hope would get them through, they waited silently and anxiously for a response, then it came "_It appears you're still using a Republic code algorithm, but given that the system is still new we'll assign you a new security clearance. Standby._"

The two waited silently further until a monitor chimed upon receiving a new set of codes, then the officer continued "_You are cleared to land, just remember to use your new code from now on._"

James answered "Thank you _Concord_ we appreciate it" and signed off.

The Gozanti continued without further delay, the Imperial cruisers and fighter escorts done nothing to halt their advance to the surface, Ahsoka remarked "That went better than I hoped."

"Agreed. Hopefully it'll be the same on our way out."

The cruiser began its decent down into the planet's atmosphere where the two were greeted by lush jungles that seemed to span out endlessly with no limit, Ahsoka glanced over to see the SPARTAN-ll commando observe the jungles with fascination behind his clear visor, his blue eyes fixated on the wonderful view, and she grinned knowing he was like this.

"It's amazing isn't it?" she asks.

"Yeah . . . it's always a new adventure to travel to a new planet. It's also a nice change of scenery compared to our worlds back home, nothing but super cities and civilian commerce much like Coruscant."

"Didn't take you to be the nature loving kind of person" she asked surprised to learn this about her super soldier friend.

"It does get old seeing the same kind of architecture over time, no matter how extravagant the designs may be, but nature itself is always unique, nothing is the same."

"Wow . . . that's really thoughtful of you to say that."

"It's something I thought about when I was a kid back on New Harmony, just outside the town I lived in there was a large ridgeline that spanned from the southern seas to far up north. Every day after I got out of school I would head up there alone into a small cave I found and I would stay there until the sunset came. Every time when I got back home to my parents they'd ask me if I was visiting the same old cave again."

"What did you say?"

"I said 'That same old cave always has something new to explore, so it isn't the same' and they would always grin."

Ahsoka grinned and as she looked out the viewport she stated "I would've liked to meet your parents, they seemed so nice."

"Yeah . . . I'm sure they would've liked you, probably even during the midst of the war. They're not the kind to hate."

She seemed to laugh a little inside and noted something "Speaking of parents, Bay really sees you as sort of a father figure to her."

He glances at her "All I did was make her a power cell and promised to teach her self-defense techniques. I'm surprised she's becoming so attached again so soon since . . . well you know."

"I know, but I think Cain is worried about that."

"What makes you say that?"

"I think he feel it's a Jedi tradition to train the youngling, if Bay starts to learn from you it might pull her away from those traditions."

"And you mentioned that there's a rule against forming attachments with others in the Order, right?"

"Yeah, as much as you and Cain don't see eye to- well, you two don't get along well but I think you both have Bay's future in heart."

He nods in agreement "I do, maybe Komari and I should talk about Cila. Hopefully we can compromise."

The two fell silent afterwards as the cruiser glided over the massive jungles below, though it wasn't long until they began to see the outlining of buildings in the distance under the morning light and one of said buildings was in fact a massive palace. The city of Iziz was coming into view.

"Is that it?" James asked.

"Yep, there's a space port just along the outer walls. We'll land there and make our next move."

"The Empire will most likely have security checkpoints throughout the city and the landing pads, how do you expect to get through them without shooting someone?"

She gave a confident smirk "Just leave that to me Longarm."

"Alright" Longarm stated as he stood up and grabbed his M/LBE Hard Case rucksack before putting it on his back "I'll get ready."

The Gozanti cruiser was on its final approach towards the Iziz spaceport where it hovered in mid-air deploying its landing struts and made a gentle touchdown in one of the vacant landing pads inside a circular hangar that was fortunately large enough to contain such a large ship. Near the entrance to the hangar two armor-clad clone shock troopers decorated in their distinguishing red markings calmly made their way over to the cruiser as the boarding ramp extended down and allowed its two occupants off, one was pushing a hovering crate while the other led.

The two troopers halted just in front of the togruta with one asking "Is this the crate of fruit from Saleucami?"

Ahsoka, under the guise of a merchant, answered "Yep, it was freshly picked not too long ago."

"We're going to have look at your identification and expect the contents of the crate. Make sure everything checks out."

Tano glanced back at James, whose face was obscured by the polarized bluish-silver faceplate and had a hand ready to grab his suppressed M6C/SOCOM latched to his thigh in case things go south, and turns back to the troopers "Alright no problem but . . ." with a wave of her hand in front of their helmets she persuaded them otherwise "You really don't need to look at our identifications, or the crate."

The two troopers took a moment and one responded "We really don't need to check your identifications, or the crate."

She continued "You can move along."

The other then motioned with his head "You can move along."

Ahsoka then motioned James to follow with the crate in hand, the two shock troopers paid no mind and allowed the two to pass without further interruption. The SPARTAN couldn't understand what had just happened, the troopers looked like they were ready to draw their weapons until Ahsoka confronted them and made them turn away.

He waited till they were out of earshot and asked "What was that back there?"

She answered as she continued leading "Jedi mind trick, it's something I'm still getting a hang of but at least it worked."

"You haven't used that on me did you?" he asks concerned.

But she answers nonchalantly "No, it only works on the weak minded."

"Huh . . . I guess I'll take that as a compliment then."

The two eventually passed through the entrance gate and stepped onto the bustling streets of the capital, people from all around the planet blanketed the roads looking to be somewhere and buy from the market stands that inhabited the sidewalks. Ahsoka and James could easily make out the Imperial patrols that marched through the streets, some people tended to step out of the way but many paid no mind to them, all of which were shock troopers.

"Lively place" the SPARTAN comments as he looked at the scenery around him.

She silently watched a pair of troopers walk by them before she noted "That ball must be pretty important if the Empire has shock troops patrolling the streets, ditch the crate and come along."

He nods to that and ferries the crate over to a market stand that sold scrap parts, the SPARTAN and the vendor shared a few words before an agreement was made and they shook on it, James walked away with a handful of credits while the vendor got access to a crate full of starship components that could provide a fortune, both parties were fairly happy about it. He eventually links back up with Ahsoka and the two began to make their way through the crowd with the young togruta leading the way.

[Thirty seven minutes later, local apartment]

"Can't believe they're charging us sixty credits for a rundown room" Ahsoka bickered as she sits down on their rental bed that wasn't even comfortable.

James stood by an open window looking down at a busy market square "What I can't believe is how you fell for false advertisement. Nobody sets a room for sixty credits, hell not even my galaxy did that."

Tano stretches her arms and lays back on the bed "Yeah well at least we have a place to lay low until we get started on the mission. Speaking of which, I have a plan on getting into the ball."

The SPARTAN turns away from the window and faces Ahsoka with his arms crossed "Alright, you have my undivided attention."

She then sits up and began explaining her plan "We can expect security to be very tight at the ball, probably be no way for even us to get in without getting our hands dirty. But what if we were invited to the ball?"

James stood silently listening as she went on "Imperial officials will be coming from all around the sector to witness the unveiling of whatever the Empire may have, generals, admirals, even political figures like Lux. So if we were to disguise ourselves as an important figure . . ."

"Then they'll have to let us in-" he taps onto his helmet "Percival are you getting this?"

"Of course, I find the strategy brilliant, it reminds me of the Trojan Horse the Greeks built in order to infiltrate the city of Troy."

It was evident that for them to infiltrate a heavily fortified structure the two needed someone to tap into the Imperial network and guide them through or around dangerous obstacles while causing havoc among the enemy's communications. So Percival created a subroutine of himself to accompany James and Ahsoka in order to provide electronic support on Onderon.

James then adds "So all we need is the fitting uniforms and proper identifications, not to mention they'll have a roster of the guests coming."

The AI stated "I can manage the identifications and the roster if you can get me near a security terminal in one of the Imperials' checkpoints."

Tano adds "I doubt they'll let someone like me walk in with a uniform on, too young to fill the part of an admiral or general. But I think I have something else in mind."

And finally Longarm figured out what he was going to do "So that leaves me the role of the Imperial. I don't suppose the markets have a uniform for sale?"

"Don't worry about that SPARTAN James" Percival assured him "The moment we landed I was able to remotely tap into a portion of the Imperial network that was setup here. I've managed to pull together pieces of information which tells me that an Imperial rear admiral is overlooking the operation of a security station not too far from the palace."

"Alright well I guess I know what I'll be doing today then" he remarks but then he looks over to Ahsoka "But what're you going to do?"

"You don't worry about that, just worry about how you're going to get to that admiral."

The SPARTAN nodded in response before he polarizes his helmet and heads out. It wasn't a little longer after he left when she finally decides to head out and do a little shopping.

[Forty three minutes later, outside Yolhan Square]

The ODST-clad SPARTAN leaned his back against a stone wall as he looked out into the vast Yolhan Square where the large and magnificent Unifar Temple sat upon in all its glory, he was quite impressed by the architecture that was put into such a massive building. The security was a lot more evident here given that Imperial troops traveled in larger numbers, some were equipped with riot control gear, and a security checkpoint was placed on nearly every avenue that led into the square. He was standing near the main checkpoint station that overlooked the main central street that stretched throughout the city all the way to the walls, the very station where the rear admiral was supposedly stationed in.

"Excuse me sir?" an old weary voice spoke to him.

He turns his head to his left to see an elderly man looking up to him with tired eyes "Yes?" the SPARTAN asked.

"Could you perhaps spare us a few of your Shuura fruits?" the man asked as he gestured to the small open crate of fruit that sat next to James's feet.

"Us?"

"My family and I- the market prices are starting to rise because of the new 'Imperial marketing standards', we're barely getting by with the small income we have with our business. A kind gesture would go a long way. I'll be sure to repay the favor."

The SPARTAN contemplated for a moment, he saw truth in the man's words and his body language indicated he was sincere, he grinned under his helmet "You have a lot of guts to come up to someone like me and ask for something. I respect that."

He kneels over and grabs six Shuura fruits from the crate and generously hands them to the man "Here, and don't bother returning the favor, odds are you'll probably never see me again after this."

The man gave a warm gentle smile "Thank you" and began to walk away but he stops shortly and turns around "You know it's because of kind-hearted people like you that we all still have something to hope for in these new times. I'm sure we'll meet again someday" and carried on his way.

Longarm watched as the man disappeared into the bustling crowd, he really admired what the man said about still having hope- that was his purpose of building this rebellion, and now he couldn't help but ponder about it. Though he needed to focus on the task at hand, he turns his eyes back to the large building sitting across the street from him with a guard tower situated not too far which is currently occupied by a single trooper, and after a moment he closes up the crate and takes it with him as he crosses the busy street and come up to the door. The command structure looked no different from the rest of the buildings that inhabited Iziz in terms of architecture but it served its purpose due to its convenient locale and proximity to the temple. He was also fortunate to have bought the fruit from a nearby stand with the credits he earned from selling the starship components.

He steps up to the front single metal door and knocks hard on it, making sure to grab someone's attention inside, though it didn't take long for someone to answer through a speaker built next to the door "State your business" a clone demanded.

"I got a delivery of Shuura fruit for the Yolhan square guard post, is this it?"

A momentary silence followed before the trooper stated "We didn't order any fruit."

"Ah you're right but my employer said it's a gift for the 'fighting men of our new Empire'. Expenses are already payed, I just have to drop it off."

A second voice was heard and the clone began to talk amongst themselves for a moment, James stood there patiently while they muttered under their breaths until the clone asked "What kind of fruit did you say?"

"Shuura."

"Alright we're letting you in, standby."

The door buzzed and opened allowing the SPARTAN to walk in where he was greeted by four shock troopers all armed with blasters, one trooper points to a table stating "You can set it over there."

James acknowledges and sets the crate down where he begins to open it but one of the troopers stopped him "Ah wait, let us open it."

"What for?"

"It's a security measure, stand aside."

He shrugs and backs away from the crate while the trooper sets his blaster aside and carefully opens the lid, the shock troops have probably been receiving threats or acts of violence lately if they were acting like this. The trooper eventually opened the crate to find the promised Shuura fruit inside, he then takes his helmet off and grabbed a fruit to enjoy.

Two others followed suit but the forth kept his helmet on and asked "I don't think a fruit delivery needed heavy armor and a blaster, what's your story?"

James leans back on a nearby wall and answered "Well the fruit came from Saleucami at first, the merchants there had been having trouble with a couple of pirates that was looking for a profit. So the hired me to make sure the goods got to where they needed to be."

"I didn't think pirates would go after some fruit, I mean it sounds a little off."

"It's a big galaxy, nothing is ever expected to make sense."

"Yeah you have a point, but what about you? We've never seen armor like that before."

"Handmade myself, comes equipped with everything I'll ever need to survive the galaxy."

The trooper was impressed "Looks well made, I'd like to see it compete with the new armor that's going to be unveiled tonight at the ball."

This caught the SPARTAN's undivided attention "Really? What kind of armor are we talking about?"

"Something that'll replace our current ones very soon. I'm not even supposed to tell you about it but I guess we can consider that as your compensation for the fruit."

"Alright fair enough . . . but what about the ball? Got an idea whose attending?"

"That's on a need-to-know basis only and that'll compromise our security" the clone then became suspicious "I think it's time for you to leave."

James shrugged "I understand, but there's just one problem . . ."

The other clones became weary of their new acquaintance, the fully suited trooper slowly moved his finger over the trigger "What's that?" he asks in a threatening tone.

He then spoke in his own firm voice "You've already compromised the security of this station" and swiftly drew his magnum before firing the first round into the trooper's head that resulted the clone to fall with a silent '_pfft_'.

"Get him!" another trooper barked, but unfortunately he and his fellow troopers didn't get the chance to fight back when they each received a 12.7mm semi-armor piercing round to the cranium, every single one of them crumpled to the floor without even a cry of pain.

The SPARTAN ensured no one else was moving before he ordered "Percival, cut off communications from the inside, I don't want anyone to call for help."

"Done it the moment you walked in. I've also located the admiral which you can easily guess right now."

That told him one thing "Command center, acknowledged" and activated his helmet's VISR outlining irrelevant objects and walls yellow, and the discarded blasters as blue.

He holsters his magnum before pulling his rucksack off to produce a suppressed M7 submachine gun from inside, he throws the rucksack back on afterwards, and cocks the compact weapon loading the first caseless round into the chamber. After ensuring that everything on him was combat ready he begins making his way further into the station down through the tight hallway that should lead him to the command center several floors above. On the first floor he encountered no resistance, the four initial troopers he killed were probably merely there to deter civilians, but it stood to reason that there were plenty more in the upper levels but the bright side of it was that there was likely a barracks and possibly an armory which meant if the SPARTAN played his cards right, he'll have the drop on them.

He approaches a short stairwell that lead up only to the second level, it served as an unintentional defense that denied him a straight shot to the command center without opposition, but he didn't complain knowing he was making progress. With each soft footstep he silently climbed the stairs up until he reached the second level and entered another hallway, empty upon first glance, with several closed doors lining the sides.

"Percival" he spoke quietly into his helmet.

"Already working on it . . . and there- I made a remote tap into the station's security footage. I'll highlight targets as you go."

The SPARTAN nodded to that and began to quietly walk down the hall with his SMG braced against his shoulder, finger gently resting on the trigger ready to pull on a moment's thought. He carefully took eleven steps down the hall before he started to hear voices coming from one of the rooms he was coming up on, he easily recognized a burst of laughter of a clone, which made him slow to a steady tread.

"Two contacts through the door on the left. Far side of the room in the left and right corners in their beds."

"Confirmed."

The ODST-clad super soldier carefully approached the door to his left, the voices were becoming louder with each passing step, and stuck to the wall next to the doorway. He realized that if either clone manages to fire off a shot, no matter how unprepared they are, then everything was going to go from quiet to downright deafening in a matter of seconds, so he needed to be quick and precise with each shot. He eyed the door control panel next to him, simply a button to open or close, and took a moment to slow his heart rate, taking deep breaths and exhaling to slow his heart to a steady beat, after a few breaths he cleared his mind and pictured the room in his head. As Percival described he could see the two clones relaxing in their cots sharing jokes and talking with one another in separate corners of the room across from him.

With that note he slams the door control with his left fist and darted into the room, immediately stopping once he passed through the doorway, and found the two clones sitting in their black bodysuits, highlighted in green, on their beds with their eyes opened wide full of surprise. The next instant became a swift blur as the black giant swiftly and proficiently pulled the trigger three times rapidly, each met with a firm '_pfft_', into the first clone's chest then turned on his heels and pumped two more into the other's chest and head. The two clones slumped in their cots without a sound they didn't know what had hit them before it was too late.

Longarm then backed out of the room and proceeded down the hall "Clear."

"Well executed SPARTAN, single contact on the right two doors down. Shaving his beard in front of the mirror to your immediate right."

The SPARTAN repeated his pre-entry process and entered the room before putting a two near simultaneous shots into the trooper's back without delay and left the room with another calm "Clear."

"Two more contacts beyond the next door to your left."

He repeats the process again, four more shots left the barrel, and reported "Clear."

"Good, last room down the hall on the left, three contacts with two on their beds and one pacing back and forth in the middle."

"Acknowledged."

The commando carefully approached the final door where three men stood behind it, completely unaware that most of their unit is already dead and that they were next, and repeats his breathing and mental picturing. He takes one last breath of air before he opens the door and immediately places three rounds into the trooper on his right lying in bed, he effortlessly swiveled the aim of his gun onto the standing trooper who seemed to be caught off guard and places two more shots into his chest. The standing clone staggered back and fell upon his remaining brother, James fires three more rounds but the surviving clone unintentionally used his dead brother as a shield before he grabs his blaster carbine situated at the foot of his bed and fire off a bolt that grazed across the SPARTAN's left shoulder. Longarm grimaced from the hit and finishes the clone off with two rounds to the chest and a third to the forehead.

He recedes back out into the hallway and briefly placed his hand over the scorched shoulder pauldron, there was no moderate damage to his shoulder but the armor was left in bad shape, but before he could resume moving forward Percival reported "Be advised, the remaining garrison has been alerted and are preparing defenses two floors above us, they know where we're going."

"And the command center?"

"Same floor, I count six troopers still standing plus our admiral."

"Easy enough" he remarked confidently.

The SPARTAN broke into a sprint and dashed off down the hall, up the second set of stairs and continued running down the third floor. It wasn't long till he began to hear voices barking orders to one another, setting up hastily made barricades and gun nests to prevent the intruder from getting to the command center. He rushes up the third and final set of steps until he stopped at the top of the stairwell and peeked into the hallway, he immediately spots two sets of barricades with two troopers behind each one armed with typical weaponry.

He sets his weapon to automatic before he leans into the hallway and fires off a spray of full metal jacket rounds into the closest barricade, the high volume of fire catches the two troopers in the open leaving one dead and the other mortally wounded. The two remaining troopers opened fire sending blue bolts of plasma downrange into the stairwell forcing the SPARTAN to duck back into cover.

"I'm starting to really hate these guys" James commented as he reaches down to his utility belt and pulls off a handheld canister labeled with a yellow strip across it.

A bolt strikes close to him before he pulls the pin and lobs the grenade over to the barricade where it rolled past them, the two troopers stopped firing to look at it, and detonated releasing a blinding light and an ear splitting blast. James took the opportunity to come out of cover and quickly put down the two stunned troopers with clean lethal shots to the torsos, their plastoid armor did little to protect them from even the smallest of armor piercing rounds.

With the hallway cleared there was nothing standing in the SPARTAN's way to the heavy pair of bulkhead doors that took its place at the far end of the hallway. Passing the first barricade he found the wounded clone gasping for his last breaths of air, two 5mm rounds had ripped their way through his right lung with another three having gone through his abdominal region, James decides to grant him a kindness and ends his pain with a steady shot to the head silencing the clone indefinitely. He continues walking onwards when he passes the second barricade, finding both clones dead with tight gunshot wounds in their chests, and didn't stop to bother giving a moment to think before he comes to the bulkhead doors.

"What do we have Percival?"

"Six inches of durasteel plating, I'm trying to break into the station's door control but something locked me out, I'm doing my best to work around it."

"Too much time, I'm going through it."

"Since when were we on a timeframe and what do you have that could possibly blast through it?"

Longarm holstered his SMG in exchange for the Covenant energy sword he decided to bring along "Who said I was going to blast it?" he asks before he plunges the dual pronged blades deep into the door and began carving out a hole.

He could hear the men inside bickering over what to do as the sword gradually burned a line through the thick durasteel, it took him roughly seven minutes to cut an oval through the door before he readies himself for the breaching. He sheathed his energy sword and drew out his SMG once more moments before he forcefully kicks the door through and toss in another flashbang to disorient the remaining few men. He covers himself from the blast, only to happen suddenly, and moves in through the hole to quickly put two rounds into the blinded trooper to his left then turn on his heels to place three more into the trooper to his right. Then he centered his attention to the last sole survivor of the station currently standing behind a circular holotable displaying the Unifar Temple, the rear admiral himself.

"Ergh! Ngh! How dare you attack an imperial installation!?" the admiral inquired as he rubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his arm

The SPARTAN made no response, knowing the admiral's ears are still suffering from the concussive blast, instead he trained his weapon on his chest and waited for the man to recover.

It didn't take long for the admiral to recollect himself, his blindness subsided shortly before he noticed the six foot black armored figure armed with a small compact gun aimed directly at his chest, in a desperate attempt the admiral made a move for his side arm drawing a heavy blaster pistol but the SPARTAN's aim proved true when he pulled the trigger and shot the weapon out of the man's hands.

"Agh! Identify yourself at once!" the admiral demanded.

"The name's Longarm, perhaps you heard of me" he responded curtly.

The admiral grinned as he rubbed his wrist "Well I certainly have, finally a pleasure to meet the one person bold enough to break his way in and out of the Jedi Temple."

"So word got out about that. About time."

"Everyone in the Empire has heard of you, even the Emperor and Lord Vader. You've certainly become a troublesome man since then. But I have a proposal for you, will you accept it?"

"Normally I read the fine print before accepting to anything."

The admiral scoffed "Cautious one aren't you? Very well here are the terms: As of now the Empire has branded you as a traitor and everyone will be looking for you for the bounty that's on your head. But, if you surrender your ship and all of the Jedi scum you have aboard I will grant you a full pardon for the criminal acts of attacking Imperial troops and harboring fugitives."

"Tempting, but I made a promise to someone that I'd keep the Jedi safe. And if there's one thing everyone in this galaxy should know, is that I never go back on a promise."

"I see. Well then I suppose those are your final words to say? But now I must ask, why are you here? Did you come to take me prisoner to barter off for something valuable? Or do you plan on stealing whatever data we have here? Because I can assure you, you won't be leaving the city alive."

"I'm not here for you or the data" he trains his sights on the admiral's head "I only need your uniform."

The admiral became confused "My wha-" but his moment was abruptly ended when James fired a single round into the brain causing the imperial official to stagger and simply slump over on the holotable dead.

The SPARTAN holstered his SMG and looked around, finding nothing but three dead bodies, and walks over to the deceased admiral before he proceeds to strip the man of his uniform all the way down to his undergarments. He only needed to take the boots, leggings, belt, coat, and after securing the clothing inside his rucksack he proceeds to head back out the way he came in, over the corpses of men he had just killed to get this uniform. He glanced at every body he passed, seeing them as wasted lives rather than something meaningful.

Eventually he comes back into the first room where the four dead shock troopers laid and the crate full of Shuura fruit still sat on the table, he took a moment to think and decides to take the fruit with him. He steps back out into the busy streets and proceeds to walk away from the station, Percival had already sealed the door and communications resumes transmitting the clear signal with no indication of trouble.

"That went better than expected" the AI states.

"That was just the easy part, now comes the interesting part of the mission. Did you do anything about the guest roster and invitation?"

"Yes, I've managed to alter the invitation list and roster to ensure you and Ahsoka get in with no complications. How do you feel about being Rear Admiral Danforth Whitcomb?"

"Whitcomb? That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. That'll do perfect Percival, and Ahsoka?"

"She'll be called by Raya Zekna, she chose the name herself."

"Alright, you know where she is now?"

"Not too far from our apartment, she's shopping at the moment."

"Set a waypoint."

Afterwards he spots the old man with who appeared to be his eldest son working to sell their jewelry from their stand, the man spots the SPARTAN coming with the crate in hand, he grinned "I thought you said I wouldn't see you again."

"Well I thought I stopped by and give you a little something" Longarm replied as he sets the crate on the counter in front of him.

The man raised an eyebrow and opens the crate to find it still full of fruit "Consider it a gift all expenses paid."

"Wha-" the man stuttered, his face turned joyful "I-I don't know what to say. This is enough to feed us for two weeks!"

"Don't say anything, I thought about what you said earlier and it made me realize something."

"And what's that?"

"That no matter how dark things may seem, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us. I'm going to do what it takes to get us there."

The man grinned "Spoken like a hero if I say so, and you seem determined to do so. But here I must insist, take this as our appreciation."

He holds out a golden necklace encrusted with an assortment of blue jewelry, the SPARTAN hesitated to take such a gift but the man had a proud smile across his face and eventually the soldier accepts the gift "Thank you."

"No need for thanks, you've done enough for my family. I bid you luck in your future."

James nods in acknowledgement and begins to head back out into the bustling crowd.

[Twenty two minutes later, Burma's wardrobe cartel]

"You've picked a beautiful dress little miss, I'm sure your lover will find you irresistible" a female toydarian, Burma, complimented.

"Thanks Burma" Ahsoka replied kindly "How much do I owe you?"

"Two hundred and thirty seven credits, expensive yes but I'm sure you understand."

"Not a problem" Tano stated as she paid Burma the credits to purchase the dress she chose, thankfully the money given to her by Senator Amidala hadn't been frozen by the Empire.

Burma grinned joyfully and carefully took the dress to package it up, and when the toydarian came back she kindly hands the packaged dress to her. The two gave their pleasant smiles and ended their business with the togruta heading out the front door.

As she left she immediately finds Longarm leaning his back against the wall with his arms crossed, she asks "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough, you ready to head back?"

"Yeah let's go."

The two then started walking off back to their apartment building side by side, nobody paid mind to the fact that there was two beings donning combat armor or the fact that one was armed with a weapon, some of the children that they passed by thought it looked cool, and she asks "So you got what you need?"

The SPARTAN pointed his thumb to his metallic rucksack "In here, you?"

She raises the package in her hands "In here, so now all we have to do is get ready for the ball. I always wonder what you look like in uniform."

James gave a small grin to that, it's been a while since he wore anything that wasn't plated with titanium armor, and replied "You'll know soon enough, for now let's stay focused."

[Five hours later, Apartment complex]

"Are you almost done yet?" Longarm called out as he finishes adjusting the belt around his waist.

"Just about" Ahsoka replied from another room.

The SPARTAN made one last check of himself, the clothing he stole surprisingly fit well over his muscular body granted he still wore the ODST bodysuit under the uniform as a measure of protection in their cover ever gets blown. Everything was in the right place that would help him pass as an Imperial admiral, it was still weird to think he was going to go behind enemy lines as the enemy rather than donning his MJOLNIR armor and deal with the situation head on, in fact this is the first time he had ever disguised himself as the enemy.

Ahsoka finally called out from the other room "Alright I'm coming out, close your eyes!"

"What do I have to close my eyes?" he wondered seeing no point for surprises.

"Just do it!"

He didn't bother to argue and does as he was told, he closes his eyes and listened as a door opened and closed followed up with light footsteps approaching him, he could only wonder why she wanted this moment to be a surprise until he heard her voice only feet from him "So, how do I look?"

The SPARTAN opened his eyes and found Ahsoka dressed in a pure white hybrid dress that took elements from a sheath and slip dress with a large part of her midriff exposed, the tight skirt reached down to her ankles, and high heel shoes that elevated her to roughly his height though he still towered by a mere few inches.

"So?" she asks still waiting for a response.

Longarm had never been pressed into a situation such as this, but fortunately he had one word that came to mind "Elegant. Are you still carrying your weapon?"

She pats her right thigh where she still carried her M6C strapped to her leg "Yeah, and thanks for the comment. You don't look so bad yourself for an admiral."

"Thanks, but there's one thing still missing."

Her expression became curious "What's that?"

The SPARTAN-ll stepped over to his rucksack, resting on the bed along with their armor, and reaches into the metallic pack to bring out the jewel encrusted necklace "A merchant wanted me to have this after I gave him a month's supply of fruit for his family, I figured this would go nicely with your outfit."

He steps back in front of her and holds the necklace out to her in the palm of his gloved hand, she was surprised by this but she couldn't say no to the kind gesture, she calmly takes the jewelry and puts it around her neck.

Once that was done she asks "So, you ready to go?"

He nods in acknowledgment "Ready."

"Alright then . . . let's go."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	36. The Imperial Ball

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 36**

**"****The Imperial Ball"**

[Onderon, Unifar Temple]

The evening sky was calmly settling down over the capital city of Iziz, security was intensified in preparation for the event and the guests were arriving from different parts of the sector. Landspeeders provided taxi service for the officers that had just arrived at the spaceports while some chose to simply walk due to the close proximity; however Imperial Rear Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and his fiancé, Raya Zekna, chose a speeder for their travel. The two sat silently together in the back of the taxi, Ahsoka calmly watched the urban scenery around them, admiring the quiet while waiting for them to arrive, while James kept his eyes focused ahead with the Temple in sight and closing.

"You nervous?" Tano asked when she noticed her partner was unusually silent for the duration of the ride.

"Not at all" he answered calmly "Are you?"

"Not at all" she copied with the same tone which followed up with a confident grin "All we have to do is play along until we're able to get Lux out of there."

"Sounds easy enough. Though I prefer to deal with the situation head on rather than tip toe through the enemy."

"You're just anxious because you don't have any armor on. Don't worry, everything will be alright."

"I hope so. Let's also hope that the Empire hasn't caught onto Percival's ruse, or the mission will be compromised before it even started."

The speeder was slowly coming up into the courtyard where it came to a full stop prompting the SPARTAN to climb out and offer his hand to her to help her out of the vehicle, she accepts the hand and soon enough the two were walking side by side by the arms up the central stairs that led up through the exterior gardens to the temple itself. James' eyes carefully and swiftly analyzed the situation ahead of him, a number of shock trooper patrols wandering around the temple perimeter armed with riot gear, a clone trooper standing near the entrance with a roster in his hands as he checks the names of the partygoers, and a single clone LAAT gunship with red markings gently gliding across the palace.

"Greetings!" a voice called to them from behind.

The two turned around to see another imperial admiral walking up the steps with a human female at his side, both appeared to be in their late-fifties but still seemed remarkably healthy, James answered back "Hello . . ."

The admiral and significant other finally caught up with them and introduced themselves "I'm Vice Admiral Lokolo and my lovely wife Nana."

Nana greeted the two with a pleasant grin and extended her hand to Ahsoka "How do you do?"

"I'm doing fine, thank you" the togruta replied as she shook her hand.

James then introduced themselves "I'm Rear Admiral Whitcomb and this is my fiancé Raya."

"My, what an adorable couple you two look" Nana started "And yet you seem so young to be something of such a high rank Mr. Whitcomb."

"Looks can be deceiving Ma'am."

Lokolo gave a short chuckle "And you're so well-mannered as well. It's hard to find a young man such as yourself who still has respect for others" he then turned to Ahsoka with a grin "I see why you chose him."

"What can I say?" she smiled as she held close to the SPARTAN's arm "He's one of a kind."

"Well there's no sense in staying here in the cold breeze, let's get inside" the Vice admiral stated.

The SPARTAN then gestured with his hand "Lead the way Vice Admiral."

Lokolo nodded to that with a smile and lead the small group up the stairs till they reached the trooper who was taking attendance, the clone raised his hand signaling them to stop and asked "Rank and name?"

"Vice Admiral Jacub Lokolo and my wife Nana Lokolo."

The trooper ran his finger down the list on his pad, his eyes skimming across each name until he found them and reported "Here you are, welcome Admiral and enjoy your stay."

"Thank you trooper" the Vice Admiral replied before he and his wife headed in, it was James' and Ahsoka's turn now.

"Rank and name?" the clone asked.

"Rear Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and my fiancé Raya Zekna . . ."

The trooper began searching for their names as well, he silently scrolled through the screen of his pad skimming through the names. James was becoming weary, despite keeping his posture calm and collected, preparing himself to fight their way out should the ruse fail, while Ahsoka remained calm and composed as she waited for the clone to find them."

"Ah here you are Sir, the name was a bit hard to find but it's there" the clone stated as he gestures his hand towards the temple "Welcome and enjoy your stay."

James' mind was set to ease as he nodded "Thank you trooper" and the duo resumed making their way inside.

Tano waited for them to be out of earshot before she muttered "That wasn't too bad. I guess we owe Percy one now for that."

"I'll see to it about that" the SPARTAN commando commented as they began to approach the large metal doors that were open wide welcoming all to come inside.

The moment they stepped pass the doorway they were met with a large corridor that stretched all the way to another set of open doors at the far end, and between the guests and the ball itself were roughly two platoons of shock troopers standing off to the sides of the corridor with some standing to attention with their hands raised to a respectful salute while others stood guard with blasters in hand. James and Ahsoka began to walk on through the corridor with a clam posture, should for some reason their cover be blown they would not last long out in the middle with this many hostiles. The SPARTAN kept his eyes forward while the togruta stayed close to his side being careful to not stare at the troopers for too long should the recognize her. The walk was long and dreadfully silent save for the marching footsteps of soldiers until finally at last they reached the other end with no complications.

They pass through the last doorway and into the temple's massive ballroom where hundreds of guests from all around the sector went about their business whether it was to talk, eat, or dance. The room was set up much like any other traditional dance with tables and chairs set up along the walls so that a large central opening could be made for those who wished to dance the night away with their partners, on the far end of the room from the newly arrived duo is a stage meant for delivering speeches and presentations though at the moment it was unoccupied.

Ahsoka's eyes scanned the room for Senator Lux Bonteri shortly before Longarm whispers "You have eyes on the target?"

She took another moment to keep looking until she reported "No, he's not here yet."

"So where do we go from here?" he asks as he looks around taking in the atmosphere.

"Now we wait and enjoy ourselves, let's find a seat and-"

"Whitcomb do come sit with us!" a familiar voice called to them.

The two turned their heads towards the source of that call and found Lokolo sitting at a round table with his wife and another couple, they really didn't have a choice and decided to walk over and sit down with them. James pulled Ahsoka's chair out for her, which she gratefully accepts with a grin, before he seats himself down in between her and Nana.

Lokolo began introductions "Danforth I'd like you to meet General Vice from the Azloc system, he's gone out of his way to attend this little gathering to see what the Empire has to unveil."

James looked over to see the general, a rugged man who appeared to have seen combat close hand for some time, though when Jacub mentioned Azloc it presented him an opportunity to learn about the Covenant that resided in the system "Azloc? Where the unprovoked attack took place?"

"I'm afraid so" Vice answered, his voice gruff and felt like sandpaper "They kicked us out of the system within hours. And when our response fleet arrived they were torn down as well, didn't even get into weapons range when the enemy fired."

"I've read the report, thirteen ships wasn't it? One of them roughly three kilometers long?"

"Your reading hasn't failed you there. I've never seen a ship of that size before in my entire life, that thing single handedly destroyed half the fleet before we were forced to retreat. Though before we fled we've noticed that our sensors picked up three of their ships in the northern polar region which was oddly peculiar."

"How?"

"Most of their ships were spread out across throughout the system, most likely to act as patrols, but those three ships were the only sign of concentration on the planet. If you ask me I think they're building a base."

The SPARTAN offered his own theory "Or perhaps they found something . . ."

"That too, though I prefer it be the first" the general sighed before he caught himself "I'm sorry where are my manners, this is my wife Udina"

"Hello" Udina answered kindly with a gentle wave.

James gave her an acknowledging nod and gestures to Ahsoka "This is my fiancé Raya . . ."

Tano gave a gentle grin which was accompanied by a friendly "Nice to meet you."

"So fiancé huh?" Vice asked "Please tell us how you two met?"

Longarm was beginning to open his mouth when Ahsoka started to talk "We met on Coruscant outside one of the major spaceports, I was in a rush to get to a transport when I lost my luggage. That was when Whitcomb here came and helped me out and got me to the transport in time, I wasn't use to that sort of kindness so when we were about to leave I asked him his name. After that it just happened."

Admiral Lokolo glanced at James who answered "She tells it better than I do."

"Such an interesting story" Nana comments "So things just fell together into place afterwards?"

"Yes Ma'am" the SPARTAN nods.

Udina places her hand on Vice's shoulder "Honey, let's go dance a little. We haven't done that in years."

The general grinned "Of course Dear" and turns to the others "If you'll kindly excuse us, I believe it's time we enjoy ourselves."

Lokolo agreed "Yes I believe it is, will you come join us Admiral?"

James hesitated "I'm not sure, I was never the best dancer."

But Ahsoka insisted as she took him by the hand "Come on Sweetheart, now will be a good time to learn."

He attempted to protest "But I-" though it didn't matter in the end when he was pulled from his seat and lead out onto the central floor with dozens of others dancing to the slow calm music.

"Just follow my lead" she told to him "Place your hands here" as she guided the SPARTAN's hands to where they should be, with his hands on her waist and her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders.

The two took a minute to settle into the calm soothing moment until she whispers "I had hoped you'd be as much of a dancer as you are a fighter."

"That's because I _really_ never danced before. I'm a soldier remember?"

"Well there's a first time for everything, soldier. Let's just keep playing our parts until we find Lux."

"And figure out what the Empire is unveiling here as well."

The two fell silent afterwards as they both held each other close in their arms, in order to keep up the act Ahsoka eventually rested her head against the SPARTAN's chest to which there was no protest from him. James couldn't help but look down at her, he could feel her arms resting on his shoulders and her head against his chest. She could hear the powerful lungs as they cycled oxygen through his system, there were also other distinctive sounds in his body which made her presume they were allegedly his cybernetic augmentations. For a second generation SPARTAN he didn't know what to feel at the moment, a division of emotions mainly comprised of a sense of focused attention to the mission at hand and a want to just relax and enjoy the night.

"You're not too bad at this" she muttered loud enough for only him to hear.

"I'm a quick learner" he remarks.

She pulls her head away and gives him an amused grin before something caught her eye, she looks to her right and through the crowd of couples she quickly found who she was looking for, the tall young dashing man with short brown hair and attire that would identify someone as a high profile figure, Lux Bonteri.

"I found him, he's over by the stage talking with the guests."

She breaks away from him "I'll go talk to him, take a seat back at our table."

The SPARTAN silently nods and walks away without a word, afterwards she begins making her way through the crowd being careful not to bump into someone and ruin their moment, until she finally gets close enough to make out the individual voices.

"Well you two look nice together, and how is your son?" Bonteri's voice spoke with its usual charm.

The Imperial official answered "He's doing fine, training to become an officer like his old man."

The lady standing next to the officer noticed Ahsoka and pardons them "I believe the Senator has another guest, come along Hev let's leave these two be."

"Very well."

Lux wasn't sure who the lady was referring to as the left and turned to see one of his closest friends standing right in front of him which brought an astounding amount of relief to his heart "Ahsoka? What're yo-"

But she quickly stops him "Shh" she whispered "Walk with me, and it's Raya tonight."

The two began to walk away from the stage towards the crowd of dancers, Bonteri had to express his relief "I'm so glad to see you again Raya, I was worried."

"Don't worry about me, I wasn't in any danger when it happened. Thanks to a friend I met.

"A friend? I can safely assume he's here otherwise the guards outside wouldn't have let you in."

"He is. Over at the table close to the front entrance, he's hard to miss."

The Senator glanced over to where she mentioned and not long after did he find a large and unusually muscular fellow sitting alone "The large man sitting all alone over there?"

"That's the one, Admiral Danforth Whitcomb."

"Why do I have the feeling that's not his real name?"

"It is tonight."

The two longtime friends slowly made their way over to the table, Lux was becoming more aware of how large this 'Whitcomb; was the more he came closer to the table. The admiral glances up at the senator and gives a welcoming nod to him as he and Ahsoka sat down at the table. That was when Bonteri realized how bright Whitcomb's blue eyes were, it was as if this man could see everything that was to be seen and more, he was taken back but remained calm.

"Whitcomb I presume?" Lux guessed.

The admiral answered "You must be Bonteri, Raya said a lot of things about you."

"I imagine. Might I ask why you two are here? And no guessing games."

"Beating around the bush wasn't my sort of style anyways" Danforth comments "Tell me, what are your views on the Empire?"

"Personally speaking its everything my late mother feared, a tyrannical power with an unquenchable thirst for power and will stop at nothing to obtain it. They already made an example of those who would dare oppose at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant."

"We know. I was there a few days after the raid."

"A few days after- wait that was you who-" Lux stops himself fearing that people might begin to listen in and whispers "That was you?"

The admiral nods confirming Lux's suspicions as the Senator explained what he was told "The whole Empire is talking about that, something about a ship half the size of a star destroyer coming out of a portal and dealing a heavy blow to a warship. Not to mention it had the Emperor worked up given how close it was. But back to my question, why are you here?"

"We're here for you Senator. Something is happening and we need you to be a part of it."

"A part of what?"

The admiral's eyes looked around carefully ensuring no one was close by before they locked back onto Bonteri's and spoke "Rebellion."

Lux took a moment to try and process that and the logic behind it "You can't be serious? Do you realize how massive the Empire's forces are?"

"As a matter a fact we do, but we have a tactical advantage that they can't beat. Method of travel. But we're not planning to go toe-to-toe with imperial troops just yet and that's where you come in, we need you to be the inspiration people need to rally against the Empire."

"I can't, the people of Onderon needs me. I can't just turn my back on them and leave."

"You're right, Onderon needs you and you won't turn from them. Everyone needs a voice to be heard, ranging from the farmers to powerful entrepreneurs that are too scared to speak out against them."

"If I'm the voice then what are you?"

"Consider me as the sword. But back to you- you need to decide if you want to come with us or stay here."

"And if I refuse to take part in this?"

"Then nothing will happen, we leave and you'll never see us again. However if you tell anyone about this conversation I will hunt you down and give you what you deserve no matter how much she begs me not to."

The Senator turns to Ahsoka for advice who adds "Trust me Lux, this is the one guy you don't want to make angry."

He turns back to the admiral "So nothing will happen so long as I don't say anything about this?"

"That's the deal. I understand it's a difficult decision to make. But we need an answer before the event ends tonight. Think about it."

Lux was given a choice, join this man and his long lost friend to take part in this soon-to-be rebellion or to remain here on Onderon and maintain his position as an Imperial senator to help his people. He couldn't imagine what sort of force Whitcomb has at his disposal to make him think he could take on the Empire but if Ahsoka was with him on this then it must be a substantial one. But the thought of leaving his people behind to fight the very people that governed his world left a gut retching feeling in his stomach. He didn't know what to do, and it worried him.

Tano saw how Bonteri was thinking hard about the decision and states "We'll leave you be so you can decide. I know you'll do what you think is right."

At that moment he watches both Raya and Danforth stand up from their chairs and head back into the crowd to resume their dance, Bonteri was left alone sitting at a table with no one to keep him company. Eventually he finds a glass of water on the table and takes a sip from it.

Ahsoka and James eventually found a spot in the middle of the crowd and resumes their slow dance, the togruta lays her head against the SPARTAN's chest once again but he knew this time it was more sincere than a mere act, he could tell she was worried. He holds her firmly in his arms, reassuring her that she wasn't the only one that was worried, and quietly closes his eyes as he bows his head over hers. Their concern for the Lux's decision was well placed, knowing that the choice he makes could mark the end or rise of a rebellion they need. To anyone in the crowd, this would appear that they were truly in love.

"You think he'll make the right choice?" she asks quietly.

"I know he'll do what he thinks is right . . ." he answers calmly.

The two fell silent afterwards wanting to just simply hope that things will turn out for the better, but their moment of silence did not last when a voice called out to the crowd "Everyone! If I may have your attention!"

The crowd gradually turned their attention to an officer standing on top of the stage, standing tall and proud ready for his announcement "If you all could momentarily step off the dance floor, it is time to unveil the latest equipment to be utilized by our glorious Empire!"

Everyone complied with the officer's request, walking off the floor and taking their seats at their tables, and he continues "Ladies and Gentlemen, for the past three years we have watched the brave clone soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic stave off the Separatists on incalculable worlds ranging from the farthest of the Outer Rim Territories to the very capital of the core worlds. We all can easily recognize them in their symbolic white armor that has protected them over the course of the Clone Wars, with that armor they were rightly given the title of the white knights of the Republic. But now with the new Galactic Empire rising into dominance of the galaxy the one man army will require something that can protect them from any threat posed to them."

He begins to step away from the center stage area as he announces the big unveiling "Everyone, may I present to you the next evolution in combat armor technology, the new face of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps!"

The floor behind him begins to open up allowing a mechanical lift to ascend to the floor carrying eight soldiers donning pure white pearlescent plastoid body armor that covered them from head to toe, there were a few notable differences from the phase-2 clone armor and this new set but the most major alteration in the design was the helmet itself. Taking the impression of a soulless tyrannical enforcer, the helmet was somewhat similar to the old clone helmet with the exception of the visor which consisted of two black 'eyes' rather than the T-shaped visor on earlier models. The crowd began to applaud for the new armor, seeing it as the materialistic manifestation of the Emperor's new will, all the while Lux, Ahsoka, and James sat idly taking careful notes of the armor.

Bonteri remarked "Wonder how much protection it gives . . ."

Tano notes "It's another way to instill fear . . ."

The SPARTAN adds "What I want to know is how is anyone able to see out of those helmets."

The officer continues "Plated with the latest in plastoid protection technology, the suit can disperse various amounts of energy discharges and keep the user alive and well. Slugthrowers are virtually useless against the plating. State of the art sensor suite and rebreathing filters accompanied by a vacuum sealed environmental bodysuit allows the wearer to survive and operate in extreme conditions. And in addition to the new armor, BlasTech Industries has provided an excellent successor to the DC-15 series of blaster rifles capable of powerful and accurate in a compact frame, they would like to present to you the brand new E-11 blaster rifle!"

The audience continued to applaud further as a trooper from the stand marched forward and held out his compact rifle for everyone to see, the officer went on "The E-11 blaster rifle will serve as the standard issue armament for the Imperial Stormtrooper, much like the DC series the E-11 will provide the trooper with necessary means to counter any threat that dare opposes them and the empire they protect with their lives."

The trooper steps back into rank along with his other comrades in arms as the officer steps forth "As we speak this new symbol of Imperial might is making its presence known throughout the galaxy as we speak, enforcing the very laws that protects us from uncertainty. And those who would dare oppose us will face an enemy of unity and unfathomable strength of our glorious Empire!"

The crowd was cheering at this point, already feeling the security the new Stormtroopers would provide to the galaxy, and finally the officer was beginning to draw his presentation to an end "This concludes our presentation for the evening, thank you all for your support to our fighting men. You may return to the dance floor and enjoy the rest of your evening, you may also come up to the stage and inspect the armor up close and perhaps hear what the men have to say about it. Thank you all, and have a good time."

Ahsoka and the others watched as the officer marched off stage while the guests headed back onto the floor to resume their festivities and she comments "I thought he was never going to leave . . ."

Lux adds "This is only the beginning, I'd get used to it if I were you."

She smirks and turns over to her partner, who seemed fixated on the new armor, and asks "Hey, what're you thinking?"

James answered "Threat assessment, if what the officer said is true then we may have a difficult time on our hands, you two go on while I go and inspect the troops" and stood up from his seat and started walking towards the stage.

The two watched the second generation SPARTAN walk out of sight towards the stage shortly before Bonteri stood up and offered his hand to Ahsoka with his usual charismatic grin "Well Raya, would you care for a dance?"

She gives a warm gentle smile and took his hand before they both went into the crowd and enjoy themselves.

On the stage, James was closely examining the individual details of the armor making out reinforced hard points such as the chest plates, gauntlets and pauldrons, and helmet while easily identifying the 'softer' areas of the armor like the lower torso, leggings, and the exposed bodysuit underneath the white illustrious plastoid armor.

The particular trooper he was inspecting began to glance at him through the two eye sockets which prompted the admiral to ask "Tell me trooper, how's the visibility?"

The clone responded, his voice sounded mechanical due to the helmet's built in vocoder "Between you and me Sir, I prefer my old armor. But if it offers better protection then I suppose we clones will just have to adjust."

"Hm. Well hopefully it will serve you well in the future. The galaxy is always filled with uncertainty."

"Thank you Sir."

Longarm nods to that and carried on with his business, he continues to examine the other troopers' armor until he took a brief moment to look out into the crowd and quickly spotted Ahsoka and Lux dancing with each other the same way she did with him although he noted the body language of the two was something more intimate. She told him that they have met in the past but if there was a form of romantic involvement from before then the mission could easily be compromised severely if left unhandled, he could only hope that this wasn't the case. He turns his attention back to the troopers and resumes taking notes of how to take them down.

Ahsoka and Lux danced to the calm slow music, holding each other close with their eyes closed as they danced as close friends, Lux couldn't get it out of his mind "Raya it's been too long since I last saw you."

"I know" she answered.

"When I heard about what was happening I had feared the worst when I thought about you. I couldn't bear to lose someone like you."

"I know . . ."

Bonteri momentarily fell silent for several minutes, feeling Tano's arms around his shoulders, and asked "Remember when we first met on Raxus in the garden, where we were Republic and Separatist, and we both had our different views?"

"Yeah?" she asks as she looks in him the eye.

"Well, I have to say I miss times like that. I was so caught up in my emotions with my father's death that you allowed me to see the different side of things."

"Your mother did teach us there are always two sides to everything . . . no matter what it is."

"Yes, if only I can see the different sides of this. What you and your friend must be doing right now. But I can't . . ."

She breaks from him "What do you mean?"

"I mean . . . I mean I've made my mind. I'm sorry but I can't help you with your problems. I just can't. I have to do what I can to protect my people, I don't expect you to forgive me but all I need is for you to understand."

"Don't worry I understand . . ." she replied as she started to break away "I suppose it was worth a shot too. But it was nice seeing you again . . ."

She could see the sadness in his eyes as he spoke "Yes, if only it was under more friendly circumstances."

"Perhaps it will be some day" she reassures him.

"Then I'll look forward to it . . ."

"Goodbye Lux . . ." she said with a heavy heart.

Small droplets of tears began to swell up in the senator's eyes as he whispers "Goodbye . . . Ahsoka."

At that moment she turns away from her friend and begins to walk away, her own tears were beginning to drown out her eyes as well but she rubs them away with her arm and took a deep breath to calm herself before heading out to find James who happened to be not too far away from her. She casually strides on until he noticed her just before she motions with her head for him to head into a small guest room that was situated off to the side of the ballroom with glamorous curtains covering the entrance. He catches on and began making his way towards it, once he reached it he pulls the curtain open and allows Ahsoka to pass through first before he follows her in.

He could tell she was emotionally hurt despite the calm posture she presented and asks "What happened?"

"Lux isn't coming . . . he's more concerned for his people than for the rebellion."

"I wouldn't put it against him. I probably would've done the same if I was him. Nonetheless we need a new strategy, we can't beat the Empire head on through force."

"We'll have to start this rebellion somehow, and I think finding someone to be our voice is still our best option."

"Who's going to be that voice? As of now we have maintained the element of secrecy, the Empire doesn't know who or where we are. If one of us steps up then they'll recognize us the moment we touch ground elsewhere. We need someone to sway the people, nobody will listen to a lone soldier, people have already become too afraid of the Jedi, and our best chance can't take the risk."

"I know that- we just need to keep trying. There has to be someone else in the galaxy that is willing to speak out against the Empire."

"Political figures still hold vast amounts of influence over their rightful sectors, perhaps if we coul-" but before James could continue Ahsoka swiftly grabbed his shirt collar pulling him down and press her lips against his with enough speed it actually shocked him.

The SPARTAN felt her warm lips against his own and for once in his life he was genuinely frightened, his arms barely hovered around her waist as he tried to process what was happening. His ears could pick up a trio of footsteps in a very close proximity on a course for the very curtains they hid behind, telling him that people were coming and this was the only way for her to keep him quiet without blowing their cover. Eventually the battle hardened commando was beginning to swell up with a very unusual feeling that was bubbling deep down inside him, of all his years of life he had never felt this sort of experience before and it contributed greatly to his fear of not understanding said feeling. Soon enough his muscles began to relax and his arms started to take hold around the togruta's body, as usual he allowed Ahsoka to take the lead on this strange dilemma as they continue to kiss until he heard the curtains shift behind him and the footsteps stopped in place.

"We're- not interrupting something are we?"

Tano finally breaks away from their moment of intimacy allowing James to turn and spot an Imperial general, his wife, and surprisingly Bonteri who seemed to be utterly upset by what he just witnessed "No . . . none at all. I'm sorry if the moment-"

"Uh erm no need to be sorry, we'll just find another room to discuss politics" the general gave an embarrassed grin "We'll leave you two be . . ." and left.

While the general and his wife left, the SPARTAN noticed Lux's disgusted glare towards him before he too turned and walked out, he then turns his head to Tano and compliments her "That was an effective if not orthodox way of keeping our cover . . ."

"Shut up" she spoke sharply as she gave the soldier a punch across his shoulder.

He brushes the hit off and set his mind back on the situation at hand "So what do we do? Head back to the ship or stay here?"

But before she could answer that question Bonteri's voice spoke to them "You're going to leave this planet, with me along with you."

They quickly turned to see Lux walking back in with his arms crossed, Tano had to ask "Really? What changed your mind?"

"After we danced I tried to think about things on a larger scale, it wasn't only Onderon that as being threatened but numerous star systems as well. My mother would understand if I wanted to keep my home safe, but all she wanted was everlasting peace throughout the galaxy, and to do that I have to what is best for everyone, not just for us. So I'm coming with you."

Ahsoka grinned and accepted her friend's request to join "Welcome aboard Lux."

But Longarm wasn't thoroughly convinced, while what Lux said had been true so far he was only saying that to mask what the SPARTAN perceived as the true reason. He assumed that after Bonteri witnessed the moment between them, a sense of jealousy rose up inside of the senator and now had the urge to make sure this wasn't just a mere act of remaining covert but a beginning to something more. This was evidenced by three things, Ahsoka's mentioning of their past encounters- though he know nothing of the specifics- and longtime friendship they shared, the relative intimacy that was displayed during their dance, and now the disdainful glare he briefly shared with the SPARTAN. James was no fool to truly believe Lux's intentions at this point and easily foresaw possible risks and compromises in their own security and future missions, but he couldn't turn down the huge advantage the senator will give them against the Empire.

The SPARTAN decided to not say a word about what was on his mind and welcomed the senator, though with some caution and regrets in his mind, "Glad to have you with us Senator. Though if we want to maintain Onderon's safety I suggest you not to be open about your decision. This also provides another problem, how to get you off-world without raising any suspicion about your defection."

Tano quickly suggested playfully "We could always kidnap him."

The two men glared at the togruta for making such a suggestion, James started to like the idea and adds "We'll have to make it look convincing. But we need to get away from the heavy security."

"We'll just walk out the way we came in; play it smooth and then we go."

Lux wasn't so sure about the idea but he had no other option "Alright . . . let's get going."

The trio began to head out, with Lux taking the lead, Ahsoka behind him, and James bringing up the rear. They raised no suspicion from the crowd as they continued to dance the night away, the corridor filled with troopers continue to make their routine patrols with no opposition to them leaving, some even saluted to the senator and admiral who gave a dutiful salute back to them. But once they came out through the palace's main entrance onto the garden terrace the trooper standing guard perked up from his moment of lull and spotted Lux leaving.

"Senator!" the trooper called to them as he rushed over with a DC-15A blaster rifle in hand.

Lux and the others stopped in their tracks with Bonteri asking "Yes trooper?"

"Senator you know you were supposed to stay inside during the festivities. I believe you need to return at once."

"Calm down trooper I'm in no danger, besides we came out to get some fresh air. There's no harm in it now is it?"

The shock trooper hesitated, he argues "Sir we have strict orders to ensure you stay inside at all times, I insist you head back inside until the ball comes to an end."

"Strict orders from whom trooper?"

"From Sector command, they're concerned for your well-being."

Lux opens his arms gesturing to the beautiful night sky "It's a lovely night, no danger to be seen or heard of since the formation. I am perfectly alright."

But the trooper chose not to listen anymore and drew his rifle on them "Sir! I suggest you get back inside now!"

In a mere instant, James recognized and effectively eliminated the threat posed by the clone with a well-executed jab into the trooper's side, causing him to coil and double over, followed up with a hard hitting blow to the back of the helmet. The plastoid armor did nothing to counter the sheer force the SPARTAN-ll implemented into the swift strike, and the trooper lied on the ground unconscious.

"Not very subtle . . ." Lux remarked as he watched Longarm pick up the long rifle.

"Neither is this" the commando adds as he turns and struck Bonteri across the head with the butt of the rifle with enough force to knock the senator cold.

"James? Was that really necessary!?" Tano blurted out after seeing how hard the SPARTAN had hit her friend.

He was already placing the inert man over his left shoulder "Had to make it look convincing right?"

But the moment of mischievous grins came to a swift end when a light shined down upon them from the hovering gunship that loomed above, blaster fire immediately came down from the squad of troopers that stood from the troop bay inside. Ahsoka and James knew there was no longer any means to maintain stealth with the latter turning his rifle up singlehandedly and return fire sending bolts slamming against the underside of the transport, it wasn't long after before the two platoon of shock troopers came rushing out of the corridor after hearing the initial shots.

"They have the senator!" a trooper barked as he took aim and fired a stun blast towards Ahsoka who ducks out of the way and turned on her heels to run.

Longarm turned his aim down onto the ground troops and fired off a burst of shots that caught one trooper by surprise across his chest before he too was forced to retreat. The clones immediately began to pursue as they set the city on high alert and the duo of kidnappers ran from the palace with their prize literally in hand.

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	37. Extract

**Vanguard **

**Chapter 37**

**"****Extract"**

[Onderon, Apartment complex, Two hours later]

"Ugh . . . wha-? Why did you hit me?" Lux muttered faintly as he was greeted by a throbbing headache the moment he came back to.

He heard no response from either Danforth or Ahsoka but he could feel that he was laying on something rather comfortable, like a bed, and started open his eyes to see where he was. At first his vision was nothing but a messy blur until it began to gradually clear up, his hearing was also starting to come back as he could hear muffled voices, one male and the other female but both are familiar, not too far from where he was.

Soon enough he hears a door opening and footsteps approaching, then he hears the voice of who he was hoping "Enjoy the nap?"

"Hardly" he responded as he painstakingly sat up in the bed seeing Ahsoka standing there now wearing a set of black combat armor that he never saw before "Where's your brute of a friend?"

"Out here keeping guard, said he had to make it look convincing when he hit you."

"It convinced me . . ." he stated as he started rubbing the side of his face where the rifle stock had struck him.

Tano grins and pulls him out of bed "C'mon, let's get you something to eat."

The two headed out into the common room where it had been hastily converted into a small defensive position with tables tipped over to act as barricades, windows being blocked out to avoid any chance of people looking through, and finally Danforth, wearing a more complete version of the same kind of armor Ahsoka has, wielding the same DC-15A blaster rifle he used to knock the senator unconscious.

"Hey Longarm, guess who's up?" Tano quipped as she made her way to the kitchen area.

The SPARTAN turned his head and saw Bonteri standing there with his arms crossed, Lux could no longer see the man's face due to the polarized bluish silver visor, and he gives an acknowledging nod "Senator."

"Is that your real name? Longarm?" Lux wondered.

"Just a nickname. How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing just fine no thanks to you."

"I had to do what was necessary Senator."

"Right . . . well in any case why are we still here?"

"Shortly after escaping from the palace all military and police units were alerted and mobilized to seal the city off and lock down the spaceports. We were half way to the ship when the Empire began cracking down on security, right now we have heavy patrols marching through every street and gunships providing surveillance and close fire support if needed."

"So we're waiting here until they lift the lockdown."

"Given how important you are I doubt they'll lift it. We were waiting for you to wake up so we could punch through their defenses and get to the ship."

"You need my help to fight?"

"No, we need you to stay of the way."

"Well that's not helpful now is it?"

"About as helpful as carrying your weight around while trying to fight off a squad of troopers."

"Okay boys" Ahsoka intervenes before Lux could've made a comeback to the SPARTAN's remark "Let's not try and kill each other until we get back to the ship. I need you both alive if we want to get out of here."

The ODST-clad SPARTAN briefly glances at his partner before turning his attention back to the door, Bonteri shoots Longarm one last unfriendly glare before he too drops the conversation and walks over to Ahsoka where she has a protein bar out for him, courtesy of UNSC regulated rations.

The senator takes a bite from the bar and swallows before he glances at the SPARTAN and whispers "What's his story?"

"That's something I'm still figuring out . . ." Tano answered back in the same tone.

"Okay, well what have you figured out?"

"Well some of it you wouldn't believe. But he's something his people would call a Spartan."

"Spartan? What's that?"

"A super soldier to say the least, biochemical enhancements, rigorous training, augmentations- this is the kind of guy you want to back you up in any fight."

"Is this what he said or what you saw?"

"I've seen him in action multiple times, he doesn't disappoint."

"Okay . . . I know what he is, but where did he come from? How did he come to be what he is?"

"Like I said, some of the things you won't believe."

"Try me."

Longarm's voice broke the relative silence "You do realize I can hear you both?"

The two looked over to see the soldier staring at them through his opaque visor, his voice was unamused when he spoke, and he continues "Go ahead Ahsoka, see if he believes you."

Lux looks back at his friend as she tries to sum up what she already knows and explains it "Longarm here is a super soldier from another galaxy. He serves a military organization called the UNSC who has been waging a twenty seven year long war with a genocidal race of religious aliens called the Covenant, but lately the UNSC had been losing a lot and were becoming desperate from what I imagine. He and his ship was caught in an electrical surge during a battle that caused his jump drive to send him here in our galaxy. So now he's stuck here with us as well as the Covenant, and if it weren't for Ventress we wouldn't have met."

Tano and James stood silently waiting for a response from the senator, who was at the moment trying to process what he had just heard, a man from another galaxy fighting religious aliens hell bent on destruction and somehow ends up here due to some surge, and soon enough he starts to chuckle which quickly died away when he noticed the serious expression on her face.

"You're not joking are you?" he asks.

She shook her head which in turn prompted Longarm to state "Whether you believe it or not it doesn't matter to me. What does matter is that I ensure your safety for the sake of this rebellion."

"And what about this Covenant? Where have they been all this time?"

"The Covenant were the ones that attacked the Azloc system, the Imperials can't get too close to the system now without losing the element of surprise. And unfortunately we are in no condition to engage them."

Lux didn't what to say to that, if what the SPARTAN claims is true then the uncertainty of this galaxy is ensured. With the Covenant slowly building up its already significant military presence to stand off with the seemingly endless forces of the Empire, and the only threat to them is a mere soldier and a ship, then this could be the galaxy's darkest time.

He sees the armored figure move towards the window and gently peer through the curtains for a moment "The next patrol just passed us, we need to start moving."

By cue Ahsoka reaches down and pulls her M6C out before making one last check over the mechanism and ammunition, Longarm heads over to the door and waits for them, all the while Bonteri asks "Don't I get a weapon?"

Tano retorts "You're being kidnapped remember?"

"Oh right, must've slipped when Longarm hit me" he replied sarcastically.

She gives an amused smile before she and the Senator made their way over to the door with Longarm who stood ready with his blaster rifle. The SPARTAN momentarily placed his head next to the door, waiting to hear any signs that may indicate movement outside but nothing was to be heard, and shortly afterwards he presses the button opening the door and heads out taking point with his rifle raised. One by one the three walked out of the room and proceeded down the hallway towards the main lobby where the exit is, taking careful steps as to not alert anyone that may be inside one of the many rooms of the apartment. Nobody said a word to each other but Lux decides to take a moment to examine the SPARTAN from behind, the black combat armor was certainly something he had never seen or heard of before plus the small compact weapon that was latched to his left thigh, and turns his head to see Ahsoka watching their backs with a small black blocky pistol in her hands rather than her two lightsabers. It was then when Bonteri accidently walks right into Longarm's back when the SPARTAN had stopped to check the main lobby for signs of life, he glances over his shoulder to see the Senator immediately taking a step back before looking back ahead, and signals everyone to make a dash for the door. The group sprinted for the door, with the super soldier reaching it first and opening it for the others to pass through, and from the dry warm interior they ran out into the cold night that was caught in the middle of a rainstorm.

Ahsoka and Lux briefly looked around scanning the scene for people before they heard their ally whisper "This way, into the alleys."

The two glanced over to see the SPARTAN heading into a dark alley in between the hotel and another building set next to it, they followed their friend and quickly caught up to him where he then went into a jog until he reached the other end of the narrow passage. He quickly stops and takes a quick look into the streets, finding nothing but heavy rain and darkness but his hearing told him there was a squad of troopers marching this way with the synchronized footsteps and plates of armor. He gently pushes the others back a few steps with one hand and presses his back against the stone wall of the alley, his rifle was pressed against his chest with his finger on the trigger, as the marching became louder and grew closer. Surely enough a platoon of clone shock troopers marched next to them, some made the effort to glance into the alleyway only to find nothing but pitch blackness, and continued on without any further complications. Longarm poked his head out once more and watched the troopers march on until they were finally out of sight turning around a corner onto another street.

"Clear, let's keep moving" he mutters prompting the others to follow him out onto the street.

The trio made a quick dash through the rain and mud across the street onto the other side where they then moved along the row of buildings. Longarm did well to pay attention to their surroundings, carefully listening and watching for anything out of the ordinary with his helmet's built-in VISR HUD display and audio receptors but only those were second compared to Ahsoka's ability to detect physical objects given her species' use of their montrals that allows them to detect displaced space ultrasonically. Lux was only trying his best to keep his guard up but compared to the SPARTAN's enhanced visual imaging and the togruta's unique ability, it only made him third wheel.

"How much farther to the ship?" Bonteri asks as he tries to keep pace with the super soldier in front of him.

Longarm answered as he kept jogging "Spaceport is only three hundred meters out, expect heavier patrols."

But quickly enough Ahsoka orders them in a harsh whisper "Hit the walls!"

Without a second thought all three slammed themselves against the wall next to them, moments later did the men hear the distinctive hum of a LAAT gunship hovering overhead with spotlights shining down on the streets below. The lights scanned the vacant grounds as the aircraft smoothly glided over the streets in search for the fugitives and the kidnapped Senator. Eventually the gunship completed its search and moves on to a different area.

The three then broke away from the walls with Longarm watching the gunship disappear into the distance before looking down at Ahsoka who stood next to him "Good work. We're almost there."

She nods to that and continues to follow the commando who resumed jogging towards the spaceport with their docked cruiser. The rain intensifies into a downpour but it did not slow the team's progress to the hangars until they finally came to the edge of an intersection with their destination just across a wide open plaza meant to welcome spacefarers from around the galaxy. Longarm threw a fist up, signaling the others to halt, and fell to a knee to survey what laid ahead of them.

Initial scans via his VISR highlighted roughly twenty contacts in red, clones guarding the hangars with light vehicle support from a few walkers, with no cover to get behind between them and the troopers. Most of the soldiers were making routine marches around the vicinity but there were those few that stood around talking with one another. The walkers however were standing idly with their riders vigilantly looking through the rain for any signs of movement, fortunately the three fugitives were still as ice.

"What do we have?" Tano whispered behind the SPARTAN.

"Twenty plus contacts including a pair of light walkers, no telling how many are inside though."

"So what's the plan?"

Lux kneels behind and examines the positioning of the clones to the best of his ability "We could sneak pass them" and points out a certain spot in their lines that seemed neglected "There's a point with hardly any of them, we sneak right through and they won't see us."

"No chance" Longarm responded "Even if we get past their outer layer those walkers will still see us for sure."

Ahsoka thought for a moment, taking careful notes and coming up with various plans to get past the troopers but in the end nothing proved promising, "Can you make the shot?" she asks.

The SPARTAN gave a short grin and came up with a plan "Alright, I'll target the walkers while you and Lux head across the street and get ready to move. Once I have their attention I'll need you to lay down support fire and catch them in a pincer move, but with the weather like this you need to engage your targets at close range with your magnum."

"What about Lux? He's too exposed out here."

James took a moment to look around until his eyes rest upon a metallic shipping crate across the street from them large enough to fit a person inside "Put him in that crate, it'll keep him safe and give you cover to use."

"You're seriously not going to stuff me inside a crate are you?" Lux protested.

"Either you get in that crate or I shove you in it. Either way this is how we're going to do it. Get into positon."

"C'mon Lux" Tano urged the Senator to stand and follow her as she ran across the street where the crate sat.

Once they made their way over Ahsoka opens the crate, finding it to be luckily fitted with repulsor lifts and quickly empties the contents, bags of grain and seeds, and gestures her friend to get inside which he reluctantly obliges but before she closes the lid back on top Bonteri asks "What if he misses?"

She grins with confidence and answers "He won't" before closing the crate.

The SPARTAN receives a thumbs up from his partner and begins to line up the shot with the blaster rifle, with the lack of any sights or optics the rifle was a little tricky to use so he had to do a little guess work taking in account of the distance, size of target, and the weather. After making some last second corrections he fires the first shot.

The blue bolt of ionized plasma skipped across the plaza, leaving a vapor trail in the heavy rain, and squarely impacted his target's chest causing the trooper to cry out in searing pain as he was knocked clean off his seat and hit the ground, only moments later did he hear the other troopers call out "Sniper! Get down!"

He watched the clones spread out and hit the deck, some fell to a crouch position with their blasters raised scanning for their attacker, one cried out "How's Mack!?"

Another called back "Mack's gone!"

"Dammit! Where'd that shot come from!?"

The SPARTAN readjusts his aim onto another trooper, one that was crouched and seemingly looking in his direction, and fires another bolt of energy that struck the clone in the face plate, killing him instantly.

"Someone call for backup!" a trooper barked.

James spots a trooper raising his left forearm hoping to contact support and fires off another shot that resulted in the blast to slam into the clone's side, his plastoid armor couldn't have saved him from the high powered shot of a DC-15A rifle and he died on the cold wet ground.

"I think I have a fix on the shooter!" a trooper called out as he turns his aim on the alleged shooter.

"Fire!" an officer roared.

At that moment the trooper fires the return shot sending a bolt slamming into the stone wall next to the SPARTAN, heat and rocky fragments splashed and caused the soldier to flinch a brief second before he shoots back sending two rounds back into the trooper's chest.

"I see him! Far side of the plaza!" a trooper yelled out before he fires a shot that narrowly passed by James' head making the commando to duck briefly and begin returning fire onto the now retaliating troopers.

Ahsoka watched from behind cover as blue blaster bolts flew across the open plaza, the clones were making use of their numbers with volume of fire trying to keep their target suppressed as they advanced across the open, but Longarm held his ground as he fired back accurate rounds in a controlled manner with each shot slamming into a hostile. The firefight illuminated the wet grounds with blue lights as orders were barked and men cried in pain, she watched knowing the very men she had fought alongside for years now stood no chance against the nigh unstoppable force that was the SPARTAN-ll. The troopers were gradually and painstakingly closing in on the attacker's position but with each foot they made they lose one of their own to the fray.

The recon walker however was making good progress advancing with the troops and providing support fire with its light blaster cannon, until of course the rider took a plasma bolt to the helmet and slumped off the vehicle. The clones were now but a dwindling few but their accuracy was at this point spot on when they were within eight meters of their target, now able to clearly see their blackened attacker in the pouring rain.

"Ahsoka now!" James roared as he was forced to flee from his position and resume fighting from a different stance.

Tano takes her M6C magnum out of its holster, pulls the slide back loading the first round into the chamber, and flips the safety off, she then trains her sights on the closest trooper in front of her that was standing practically feet from her with his back turned. At first she hesitated, reluctant to shoot a man in the back especially if said man was part of a force she grew to trust and respect over the course of the war. The last thought that skipped across her mind was the one soldier that she would consider a very close friend, a clone by the name of Rex, and closed her eyes before she pulled the trigger.

The 12.7mm semi-armor piercing high penetration round shot out with a heavy bang and tore into the backside of the clone's plastoid armor, effortlessly cracking the armor and eviscerated the trooper's internal systems forcing him to give a sharp cry of agony as he fell to his knees and slumped onto the wet muddy ground. Tano couldn't help but open her eyes and observe what she had done, a clone dead by her hand, and she sighed in frustration but her moment of solemn was short lived when a blaster bolt slammed into the side of the crate Lux hid in snapping her back into the action.

Longarm noticed how three troopers had turned their attention on Ahsoka and quickly places another bolt into one of his own attackers before one trooper fires off a lucky shot and blew the rifle clean out of the commando's hands. James however quickly responded by drawing his suppressed M7 SMG from his left thigh and effortlessly fire a burst of 5mm caseless full metal jacket rounds into the unfortunate man's chest before his bloodied body hit the ground. Then one after another he ejects several three to four round bursts into the remaining stragglers in rapid succession giving the troopers no chance to recover, retreat, or even fight back. One clone however makes one last ditch attempt and throws his weapon aside before charging into the SPARTAN and deal a hard hitting right hook across the helmet visor, however the commando only coiled back from the hit and turns back around launching a swift and devastating blow to the trooper's gut causing the man to double over. But as the clone tried to get up Longarm finishes the man off by grabbing his neck left arm in a choke hold, the trooper tried to fight back with his only freed arm but it was to no avail as the super soldier firmly grabbed hold of his helmet and forcibly twist his head in one rapid move that made Ahsoka flinch when she heard the loud cracking of bone and muscle just as the man fell limp.

He tosses the dead clone aside and looks around for more contacts, all hostiles in the vicinity has been killed, and asks "Are you alright?" with his usual strict tone as if nothing just happened.

"Yeah . . ." she replied rather hesitantly, she couldn't understand how the SPARTAN had just murdered the men he fought alongside like they were mere animals without a second thought, but she continues "We should get going . . ."

The soldier acknowledges it with a nod and walks over to the crate and activates the repulsor lift drives causing the container and its content to float above the ground before he begins pushing it towards the spaceport hangars. The two broke into a steady paced run making their way through the massive area dedicated to landing pads and hangar bays meant to fit ships of most sizes, their Gozanti was not too far ahead of them located in a hangar.

"Is the fighting done!? Can you let me out now!?" Lux called out, his voice muffled by the metal casing.

But neither of them answered the senator's pleads to be let out, instead Percival was the one to alert James of what was happening "Be advised, the security detail you eliminated was supposed to report in and now all units are mobilizing onto the spaceports."

"What are we facing Percival?" the commando asks inquisitively.

"At least a regiment of shock troopers with light vehicle support from what I can gather."

"ETA?"

"Now, they're disembarking their gunships as we speak."

"Acknowledged, we'll be back home soon."

The AI signs off prompting James to hasten the pace with Ahsoka quickly following suit, she knew they were about to have company, he asks "How long will it take for the engines to spool up?"

"Only a few minutes. Why?"

"We won't have a few minutes."

As he said those words the duo turned into the correct hangar bay where their sixty four meter long ship lied dormant waiting to be put to use again, Tano could sense the presence of more troopers rushing through the entrance they came through, and the SPARTAN stops to give his partner her new set of orders.

"Get the Senator aboard and prime the engines, I'll buy us enough time before we take off."

She gives a quick nod before he takes off his heavy rucksack handing it to her and she takes the crate and ships it into the cruiser, Longarm looked around hoping to find cover but the entire bay was void of supplies and equipment to use.

He gives a small sigh and starts to prep himself for the ensuing fight starting off by asking "Percival how far out?"

"Forty meters and closing . . ."

That cued him to get to work, first he starts untwisting the long suppressed barrel off of the SMG seeing no further use for the element of surprise and stealth, and tucks the barrel away in one of his pouches.

"Twenty five meters . . ."

Next he ejects the stick magazine from the gun and inserts his last fresh clip into the weapon's receiver, he pulls the charging bolt ensuring a round was in the chamber ready to fire, and flips the safety off his personal magnum.

"Ten meters . . ."

And finally he raises the compact firearm pressing the extended stock against his shoulder and narrows his eyes on the reticule that pinpointed where the weapon was aiming via a wireless link between the gun's optical scope and the helmet's HUD. At this point he could hear a chorus of armored footsteps charging his way and his motion tracker had already picked up numerous red blips approaching fast.

In mere seconds multiple men plated in pure white armor stomped into the bay area, their scoped compact rifles trained on the lone dark figure that stood between them and the ship, their eye-like visors stared into the opaque silver blue faceplate. A lone second generation SPARTAN against the newly formed imperial Stormtrooper Corps.

"Put the weapon down!" a trooper barked through his helmet's vocoder, making his voice sound synthetic.

Longarm counted eight targets standing eight meters from him, with more most likely on the way, but he made no response to the trooper's demands "I said put your weapon down!"

Then without warning or sign of wanting peace, the super soldier asks "Who wants to pray to God first?"

That was the sign telling the Stormtroopers that the target was done talking, finally a sergeant called out "Blast 'em!" and fired the first shot sending a red energized bolt slamming against the boarding ramp behind the soldier.

Longarm immediately returned fire, without the suppressor fitted onto the barrel the sub-machine gun sounded like more like a buzz saw with the rounds firing off at an impressive nine hundred rounds per minute. The sergeant and the trooper next to him were engulfed in a violent spray of bullets but not the SPARTAN's surprise their strengthened plastoid armor had withheld against the small metallic rounds. At that moment the other troopers began firing off their weapons sending a volley of red bolts upon the ODST-clad soldier who sprinted towards the nearest trooper dodging and weaving through blaster fire, even without his MJOLNIR armor the SPARTAN-ll was still beyond physically superior in every aspect compared to the already impressive clone soldiers. He closes the gap in seconds and launches a fast devastating fist that smashed into the side of a trooper's helmet, the clone's neck snapped under the immense pressure the super soldier exerted, before seizing his E-11 blaster and swing the gun till it lined up with another trooper's head and pulled the trigger. In a mere instant two Stormtroopers fell to the ground dead before anyone could've realized, but the men in white quickly reacted and turned on the black armored figure among their ranks and fired.

James effortlessly ducked below the first bolt, he guessed the trooper he spoke to was right about how difficult it was to see out of the new helmets because he didn't even need to dodge the shot, and swung up with the blaster in one hand and fire off another shot that slammed into the shooter's chest who then gave out an agonizing cry as he fell to the ground with his white armor now stained by mud and the blast mark. Another trooper leaped onto the SPARTAN's back, hoping to use his own weight to bring the giant down, but it proved to be his fatal mistake when Longarm grabbed onto the clone's arms and threw him over onto the ground before he receives the sole of a UNSC combat boot to his faceplate. A bolt of plasma rang out and grazed James' side before he turns to see the shooter and fire off shot of his own that impacted against the shooter's right shoulder and fires again sending a blast straight into the abdominal region before the trooper fell to the ground wounded.

Ahsoka finally comes back down the boarding ramp to see six troopers already on the ground with the SPARTAN standing victoriously over them however she also noticed that his attention was focused on one of the remaining two men when the other was preparing to fire into his back.

She cries out "James!" before she gathers the Force and blows the trooper off his feet sending his flailing though the air until he hit the dirt.

Both the last standing trooper and James glanced at Ahsoka for the briefest second until the imperial called out "Jedi!" and trained his blaster on her.

However Longarm swiftly acted by charging and shooting out his left fist like a missile where it collided with the man's chest, the sheer force of the SPARTAN cracked and dented the plastoid plating and sent the man crashing onto the ground with the air knocked right out of him.

"Engines primed let's go!" Tano cried out urging her friend to get aboard quickly.

He turns around and starts making his way to the ship until he noticed the trooper she had pushed away was already standing back up and training his sights on her, he didn't have time to raise his blaster and shoot so he broke into a dead sprint gunning for her roaring "Ahsoka!"

Before she realized it the stormtrooper had fired two bolts into the SPARTAN's back who has acted as a shield for her when he jumped in the way and took the hit, James grunted in pain and fell to his knees just in time for her to react by grabbing his blaster and fire a clean shot into the trooper's chest. She then tosses the gun aside before grabing the super soldier, putting his arm around her shoulders, and help into the ship. More troopers were arriving on scene and started to open fire pelting the cruiser's thick durasteel hull and she was able to close the boarding ramp before putting her companion on the cold floor.

"Lux get us out of here!" Tano commanded through the comlink on her arm.

Lux, already stationed in the cockpit, ignites the engines and begins to guide the ship into the air out of the hangar and sends the cruiser on a course for orbit.

Ahsoka begins to quickly examine the wounded SPARTAN, moving his torso so she could see the two blast marks that had penetrated the titanium-ceramic armor plating, and states as she tries to pull him back up "C'mon, let's get you to the medbay."

But shook his head and he argued with exhaustion in his voice "No . . ." he wheezed "Get the ship to safety first."

"I'm not going to leave you down here-"

"The mission comes first Ahsoka . . ." he takes a breath "That's number one priority, you get the ship into Hyperspace then you come to me . . . I'll be fine."

She hesitated to leave him but if she knew James well enough he'll still be alive by the time they leave the system, he had proved to her several times that SPARTANs were just too stubborn to die, and she rushes off to the cockpit to help in their escape.

The togruta rushes into the cockpit and takes her spot in the co-pilot seat, upon looking through the narrow viewport she finds out that the cruiser was already entering Onderon's orbit but her sensors indicated that a squadron of fighters is pursuing them and two imperial Venators are on course to intercept.

"How's your friend?" Lux asks as he steers the ship towards the stars.

"He's hurt bad but he'll pull through- I'm going to switch on our rear deflectors and warm up the cannons."

"Aren't you a bit worried about the two cruisers coming to block our way out?"

"Not at the slightest, how much longer till the hyperdrive is ready?"

"Only a few more minutes, these ships aren't exactly the fastest you know."

"Well it's certainly one of the toughest, here comes those fighters."

Several hundred meters behind the flee Gozanti, a squadron of seven V-Wing Starfighters are rapidly closing the gap and assuming attack formation. The cruiser's dorsal mounted array of laser cannons and a single quad-barreled cannon came online and began tracking their targets, leading the barrels slightly ahead of the swift fighters, and opened fire sending concentrated blasts of heavy fire onto the fighters. The clone pilots did well to avoid the incoming fire, only one fighter was lost in the initial attack when a blast impacted its starboard wing causing it to tumble out of control, and immediately engaged the cruiser firing their onboard cannons that slammed against the shields with moderate effect. Soon the remainder of the Gozanti's weapons systems came online and each turret began tracking their individual targets before firing with accurate bursts.

"Those guns won't do much against the star destroyers if we can't get out of here" Lux warned Ahsoka just as the guns record another kill.

"We won't have to worry about those if we can get these fighters off us."

The ship rocked as the shields took a strafing run from a pair of fighters passing overhead, the togruta continued to monitor the guns and shielding until she heard Bonteri ask "So that Longarm fellow, how long have you known him?"

"Long enough . . . why?" she asks as kept her eyes focused on the monitors.

"You two are good friends I guess."

"What do you mean you guess?"

"I mean . . . after I saw you two kiss I figured you two are really good friends."

She turns her towards him, her face told him that this was the worst possible time to bring something so irrelevant up in a situation like this "Are you seriously talking about this now!?" she bantered.

"What!?" he asks just as a fighter struck the shields again.

"I can't believe you're bringing up something that has nothing to do with this situation!"

"Okay okay you're right! Definitely not the time or place to talk about it! You're right!"

The togruta shook her head and shoots down another fighter just moments before the cruisers were starting to close the gap ahead of them, though fortunately enough Lux reports "Well the good news is that the hyperdrive is ready . . ."

She stares at him for a moment, her expression was enough to convince him to simply stop talking and initiate the hyperdrive, and with the push of a lever the cruiser jumps into hyperspace leaving the fighters in the dust and the cruisers without a target.

As the cruiser traveled further and further from Onderon Tano stood up from her seat and started walking towards the hatch "I'm going to check on Longarm, unless you have anything else on your mind."

Bonteri said nothing instead he just sits back in his seat and watches the stars pass by, she then headed out the hatch to attend to her friend in need.

Upon arriving at the boarding ramp she found the SPARTAN lying where she had left him, his helmeted head turns towards her and he spoke with a weak but surprisingly calm voice "I'm not dead yet if you were wondering . . ."

She grins and begins to pick up the soldier by his arm "C'mon . . . let's get you to the medbay. See how bad it is."

Longarm painstaking got up to his feet and allowed his partner to help him to the medical bay where she'll give him the medical attention he needs.

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	38. Setting things straight

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 38**

**"****Setting things straight"**

[Hyperspace]

The hatch to the medical bay opened with a hiss allowing Ahsoka to carry the injured James into the room with Lux Bonteri following just behind them.

"Easy now . . ." Tano urged as she helped the SPARTAN towards a bed for him to sit on.

Longarm grimaced in pain as he tried to sit down but he made no grunt or moan of pain. He takes off his helmet, casually tossing it aside, and begins unstrapping the armored vest that was already ruined by the two blast marks that was placed into his back. Once he had done that he drops the armor onto the floor with a heavy thud and Ahsoka began to examine the damage done, as expected the bodysuit was also pierced and compromised so she starts to unzip the suit and pull off the cloth shirt underneath to check on the SPARTAN's actual back which was scarred enough already from past occurrences.

"How bad is it?" James asked calmly.

The bolts had struck his lower left back really close to one another, the zone where they impacted was nothing but smoldering skin and muscle roughly a centimeter deep each while the surrounding areas were red and tense. She gently placed her hand against the redness which received no response from the soldier, but when she touched where the blaster had hit him he flinched with pain but took a deep breath to dull the pain.

She then made her prognosis "Well your armor took most of the hit, but there's still a lot of damage to the tissue. You're lucky you could still feel that. This shouldn't be too much trouble but you'll need to rest for a while."

"Alright, what can we do to treat it?"

"Nothing a couple of pads and bacta won't fix" she answered as she made her way over to a medical cabinet hanging on a wall.

The SPARTAN turned his head towards her and queried "Bacta?"

Lux answered as he leaned his shoulder on the side of the door "A substance that can heal just about everything, two patches should fix your wounds fairly easily."

Tano was already coming back with a pair of bacta patches, white pads that heavily resembles a pad of gauze with four wires running out of the pad with a distinctive blue light shining from the tips. She carefully applies each patch to the affected areas of his back, making sure they're working as designed, and gives the SPARTAN a light pat on the shoulder accompanied by a friendly grin.

"When did you start becoming a medic?" Lux asked sarcastically.

Tano laughed a little and sat up from the bed before giving her own order to James "You get your rest, Lux and I will make sure the Empire won't follow us back to the _Vanguard_."

He didn't bother to argue with the order and acknowledged with a nod "Yes Ma'am . . ."

She gives a small grin to him before she starts to head over to the hatch, however she stops shortly in front of the door noticing Lux stepping into the bay from the doorway and asks "You coming?"

He replies "In a moment, I'd like to speak with Longarm for a moment."

Ahsoka understood and shrugged "Alright" before she walks out with the hatch sealing behind her.

Bonteri watched as the SPARTAN-ll began to lay back on the bed and take a moment to let out a sigh before getting comfortable. Afterwards the senator walks over and takes a seat in a chair next to the medical cabinet, his eyes were firmly locked on the super soldier who simply gazed up at the ceiling above him seeming unconcerned about what he wanted to talk about.

"So this UNSC . . . how powerful is it?" he asked.

"Politically or military?" Longarm asked, wanting Lux to be more specific.

"Both."

"The UNSC is primarily a militarized branch of the UEG, that's our political body. It governs most of the inner and outer colonies from the core world to the farthest extents of human space, it acts much like your Republic before the Empire."

"And the military?"

The SPARTAN changes the subject "You don't care about the military."

Lux became confused "What?"

"I know why you decided to join us, don't think you can hide things from a SPARTAN."

"What do you mean?"

"Ahsoka, the only reason you joined was because of her" he states as he finally turns his eyes to the senator.

"That's not true- I joined because you asked of me."

Longarm turned and shot the senator a serious glare "No" he said firmly "First you declined to help us fearing the possibility of the Empire bearing down on your homeworld. But after what you saw that night with Ahsoka and I, you couldn't help but get the sense of jealousy and want to be with her again."

Lux made no rebuke, the SPARTAN had him on the spotlight and there was nothing he could do about it, but Longarm continues "I saw how you two were when you danced and I knew that if you joined us because of this intimacy then you would represent a significant danger to our cause."

". . . What do you want from me?"

"I want you to prove to me that bringing you was the right decision. Prove to yourself that you're doing this not just for Tano but for your people and others that fear the Empire."

"And if I can't?"

"We will deal with that if the time comes."

Bonteri didn't like the sound of that last comment, but he sighs and accepts "Alright, I'll try my best . . ."

"That's not good enough. A wise Jedi told me there is no try, you do or you don't."

This made the senator give a small grin, knowing the SPARTAN had aligned himself with the Jedi despite the accusation made by the Empire. Eventually he nods agreeing to do his best no matter the cost not just for Ahsoka but for everyone else in the galaxy under Imperial rule in the hopes that one day the democratic Republic can be restored.

But there were still several unrelated questions that lingered in his mind and he had to ask "So is it true? That you're really from another galaxy?"

Longarm sighed "I told you it doesn't matter to me if you choose to believe it or not. But yes, a friend and I are from another galaxy."

"A friend?"

"Another SPARTAN, Jorge, and a shipborne AI named Percival. And as far as we know we could be the last remnants of the UNSC . . ."

"Ahsoka mentioned that you were at war when you were accidentally transported here . . ."

"You can call it a war- we humans had few victories from time to time and they're costly. Worlds are burned, millions slaughtered regardless of anything, and we are always on the defense rather than taking it to the Covenant themselves. In my eyes it was a hopeless fight for survival."

"We were only able to slow them down, there wasn't enough of us to begin with when we made first contact. At first there was only thirty five of us, but our numbers started to dwindle as the war progressed, now two remains as far as we know."

It was then when Tano's voice called out through the intercom system _"__Lux I need you in the cockpit now._"

Bonteri answered back "Alright I'm coming" as he stood up from his seat and proceeded to head for the door.

But as he nears the door he hears the bed shift behind him, he briefly turns and finds that the soldier had turned on his side away from him showing his broad back, the two bacta patches, and an array of faded scars all over his skin. He only took glimpses of the scars, seeing each that varied in length and shape, before he proceeded to head out and allow the SPARTAN to rest.

As he walked towards the cockpit he couldn't get his mind off of those scars he just saw, there was so many he couldn't count them all in such short time, but he could tell very clearly that each one was deep and aged quite a bit as the scars themselves were somewhat faded but still maintained a clear presence and reminder to the SPARTAN super soldier. He began to assume they were the biochemical and mechanical augmentations that were made to his body to make him far superior compared to any other human alive. To his knowledge he hasn't heard of a military augmenting their soldiers in the same fashion as this 'UNSC' which meant that the militarized organization definitely had a different outlook on matters unlike other militaries.

He eventually reaches the hatch to the cockpit and slides the door open, finding Ahsoka in the pilot seat monitoring the cruiser's systems, and walks in asking "You needed me?"

"Yeah, since we don't have a droid I need you to help monitor the navicomputer so we could avoid the major Imperial systems."

"Alright" he answered as he sat in the co-pilot seat and got to work.

The two briefly fell silent afterwards, Tano tended to the basic needs of the ship's systems while Bonteri did his best monitoring the series of sporadic navigational routes that led them into the middle of nowhere in Unknown Regions, presumably where the _Vanguard_ was hiding for the time being. He started to wonder what the ship was like, coming from another galaxy it almost has him excited but at the same time it frightened him _'__If the UNSC was capable of producing such a fearsome soldier, how powerful are their warships?'_ he wondered.

His ears catches Ahsoka letting out a long exhausted sigh as she laid back in her chair to relax, he had to ask "When was the last time you slept?"

"About a day ago . . ." she answered tiredly.

"Looks like you're the one who really needs rest."

"No I'll be fine, besides the beds on the _Vanguard_ are much better than what this ship has. I just need to stay up until we get home."

Lux didn't want to argue with his friend, knowing she was in no mood to bother, and changes the subject "So what can you tell me about the _Vanguard_?"

"Where do I even begin?" she wondered herself with a grin "For a military ship, it really feels like a luxury yacht with guns built onto it. Great food, showers, viewports-"

"Beds" he adds.

She chuckled a little "Yeah . . . don't get me started on those. The UNSC hasn't gotten to shielding technology on a large scale for ships but the heavy armor could withstand a few hits from a turbolaser and the weapons can put a whole clean through a droid cruiser easy, I've seen it myself."

"Seriously? What kind of weapons does it have?"

"Anti-ship and fighter missiles, mass driver flak batteries, and two gigantic slugthrowers the UNSC calls a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. They also have a nuclear warhead they call a SHIVA . . . only once did they have to use it during the battle of the Null Sector, wiped out an entire separatist fleet."

"Nuclear? Is that even legal now? And a bit primitive?"

"Not in the UNSC, supposedly every ship carries them as standard issue."

This was the very thing Bonteri was nervous about, not fully realizing how much of a danger the _Vanguard_ poses to its enemies. But it also started to relieve him knowing how much of that danger is actually on his side, he could only hope that Longarm and the UNSC had been using that power respectfully.

"What else is there to the ship?" he asked, wanting to know more about the vessel.

"Other than heavy weapons and armor, it's pretty slow compared to our ships so the only way we can make faster travels is if this cruiser is docked with it so Percival could draw power."

"Percival?" he wondered.

"The ship's AI, he runs the entire _Vanguard_ all by himself with some hands on maintenance from the boys. He even allowed me access to some of their historical records which I took interest in."

"That's nice . . . but what about this 'Jorge' I heard about?"

"Oh . . ." Tano chirped, not truly sure what to make of the other SPARTAN but eventually something came to mind, "Well he's kind of a gentle giant when he's not fighting, always caring and sort of the bigger brother of the two, but truthfully I can sense the depression in him. He really misses his home just like Longarm."

"I don't blame them. But in combat what is he like?"

"Like a walking fortress."

"That's putting it brief."

"It's true, nobody messes with Jorge."

"And what about Longarm? To be honest I haven't seen him in action since I was stuffed in a crate."

"He's a dedicated soldier and someone I can call a friend after I left the order. He's been there for me whenever I needed him . . . he even went as far as to head into the temple alone to find survivors just for my sake. I don't know if I'll be able to thank him for that . . ."

"Knowing people like that, I don't think he'll expect anything in return . . ."

She turned her head towards him, the senator was gazing out into the stars passing by, "You sure?"

"Of course" he replied, not taking his eyes off the viewport, "Even if he is from another galaxy, I'm sure he's one of those people you're really lucky to have by your side."

"Thanks . . ." she answered with a gentle grin, but as she turned her eyes back to space she began to wonder herself about something that hasn't seemed to bother her until now.

Ever since first meeting James months ago he has gone to great lengths for her, from merely handing her a pistol to use to actually launching an assault on the Imperial held Jedi Temple to save her fellow Jedi alone, and has not asked for a single thing in return. How could she afford to return the favor to him for everything he and Jorge had done for her? Credits had deemed little interest from them, they had all the guns and ammunition they'll ever need to keep themselves and those they protect alive and well, and who needs an extra ship when you already have a destroyer like the _Vanguard_, a gift perhaps but what could they possibly need or want? Every possibility that popped in her mind was immediately dashed away, not once did either SPARTAN mention what they desire or hope for other than doing their jobs the right way. The more she thought the more she began to feel guilty about it, not having shown any hint of reward for their hard efforts, and felt she needed to give them something.

Bonteri took a glimpse at her and noticed her worried expression, he had to ask "Something wrong?"

"I need to thank them for everything they've done . . . why else would they go through with what they did?"

"Hmm . . ." he wondered, then he grinned a little "Maybe you should ask him. I'll keep watch until I need you."

The togruta figured this may be the only way to find out and agreed to his suggestion with a subtle nod before she stood up from her seat and head for the hatch.

[Medbay]

A light knocking came on the metal door, there was no response to greet it, and moments later it hissed open granting Ahsoka access into the bay. There she found the commando resting rather peacefully in bed, something she never saw the SPARTAN ever do since they first met, and the pieces of armor still lying on the cold floor. She steps over to the bed, where James is currently resting on his side with his bare upper body was exposed to the cool circulated air that ran throughout the ship, and kneeled down so she could check the bacta patches still doing work over the blast marks the soldier had sustained when he jumped in front of her and took the hit himself. It made her wonder how selfless the SPARTANs could be, willing to risk their own valuable lives for others like her. Perhaps it was a baseline instinct that drove James to do what he did so recklessly, maybe he realized the potential she had to become something greater, maybe he done it knowing he had a higher chance to survive than her.

The thoughts swirled in her mind endlessly, but eventually she puts them to rest and gently places her right hand over the soldier's shoulder. She received no response but her hand was welcomed by the SPARTAN's radiating warmth from his muscular skin, it seemed a long time since she did that, and she started to gently run her hand back and forth over his shoulder. Her eyes went on to stare at the heavy scarring on his back, the wounds themselves never seem to go away always reminding James of what he is, a soldier designed for nothing but war. She had to wonder, what could have he become if he wasn't a SPARTAN?

It was then when he woke up and realized her hand was on his shoulder, without moving he asks in his usual calm manner "Something you need?"

He felt the togruta take her hand off of him, prompting him to turn over and see her kneeling down by his bed, she answered "Nothing . . . I was just thinking about things."

"Sounds vague."

"Yeah . . ." she responded as she stood up and took a spot on the chair that sat close by.

"So what was it?" he asked as he sat up in his bed, grimacing briefly when a slight sting shot through his system.

She sighs for a moment to clear her mind then asks "Why did you do those things?"

"Things? You need to be a little more specific" he asked with a small grin.

"The things you did for me, fighting alongside me, taking on the task of going into the temple alone just to save a few Jedi, and taking the hit for me when you did . . . why?"

Then his grin faded away "You think it's a matter of choice?"

She nodded.

"Well for the most part it isn't, it's something we SPARTANs have become so accustomed to doing. Protecting the innocent where ever they may be. Honestly at first I was confused, scared even when you think about it, but even during the times of making repairs to the _Vanguard_ I still didn't know what to do. Until I woke up in your apartment."

"We fought each other remember?"

"I remember, but because of that I gained a sense of direction again. Especially after our first talk where you found out I was from another galaxy. But after that point I felt as if I had a new purpose again, something of equal value to all of humanity."

"What're you trying to say?"

"When Percival and I crash landed on Saleucami, I was broken, scared, and confused. But after I met you I knew that life had given me a new mission, to ensure I do what I can for the people of this galaxy just like the one I left before. You must be thinking about how you could ever repay me for everything I've done, but in reality I'm repaying the favor to you. What you gave me is something I, as a SPARTAN and a man, can never truly repay you for even if it took me centuries beyond my time. You don't have to thank me. But . . . you have mine."

Ahsoka was speechless, she wanted to say something but no words came to her mind, never once had she thought there was someone so selfless in this galaxy let alone another one, but here he is sitting down in front of her with bandages she placed on his back. The only thing she could do was to offer a small smile, and as she thought about it she realized the moment was somewhat romantic in a way but she didn't let that idea get too far in her head.

She had to change the subject before anything could happen next "How's your wounds?"

"Between SPARTANs' accelerated healing process and the bacta patches, they're doing fine . . . thanks" he answered.

"Think you can move on your own?"

The SPARTAN promptly stood up from his bed, standing tall and proud, and responded "I should be fine."

"Good" she replied as she picked up his ODST styled shirt and hands it to him "It shouldn't be long before we make it back home."

"That's fine . . ." he answered as he puts the shirt on covering his bare chest, afterwards he sits back down in the bed planning to rest just a bit more.

But something began to bother her, something she didn't to talk about but she felt that James was trustworthy, she then spoke "Listen, uh . . ." she stuttered.

"What is it?" he asks.

She couldn't figure out why this subject was giving her a hard time but she did her best to explain it "About earlier, during the Ball-"

"Don't worry about it."

She stopped "What?"

"What happened back at the Ball, between you and me, don't worry about it."

"Wait it doesn't bother you?"

"No . . . why is it bothering you?"

"I-I don't know, I shouldn't have brought it up."

The SPARTAN's piercing blue eyes stared into the togruta's "Ahsoka, if there's one thing I know is that if you keep it under it's going to dwell on you until you let it out. Tell me what's wrong . . ."

"Will you be honest with me?" she asks with some hope in her voice.

"Have I ever lied to you?"

That was all Ahsoka wanted to hear, then she asks her real question "What did you feel when we kissed?"

He states "I'm not sure why you would be worked up about it."

"Just answer the question."

He then sighs "Honestly, I have never been so afraid in my life."

"Really?"

"Mhm . . ."

"Why?"

"Because this was the one of the few things we SPARTANs never thought would really happen to people like us. We're soldiers to the very end, we're not politicians, peacekeepers, civilians."

"But in the end you're still human . . . through and through. Guess that's why you were so afraid."

He chuckles "Hmph . . . the thought of that. A veteran super soldier braving through roughly thirty years of war against a hostile alien threat, showing no fear or hesitation, and becomes scared to the core by a kiss."

Tano had to laugh too, the idea was all too hilarious for her, then she realized that she and the SPARTAN had never had a moment together like this it was calm and relaxing, every other time they've either been fighting, planning for the next fight, or worry about the state of the galaxy. Never once did they have the time to sit down and talk about something that wasn't deemed important to their greater goal. It was a good feeling to start.

James had to ask "So . . . what did you feel?"

"What?" she asked, caught off guard for a moment after the short laugh.

"I was scared as hell, what did you feel?"

"Oh . . . I guess- I really don't know. To be honest it was something Lux did to me when we were in the middle of a Deathwatch camp."

"So it was the only thing that came to mind."

"Yeah . . . I guess it was a bit relaxing, especially when you're standing in the middle of a room full of imperials."

"Relaxing would be a good word to describe it."

The two fell into a moment of silence afterwards, Tano glanced about around the room while James's eyes fell to the floor beneath him. The kiss couldn't be the only thing they can talk about, the must've been other things. Then the togruta remembers something.

"You noticed Bayu was really sad to see you go on this mission . . ." she starts.

He looks up to her with a half-sided grin "Hmph, imagine how she'll feel when she finds out I've been shot."

"And as much as Cain and Lador hate to know it, she sees you as a surrogate father to her."

"I know, she never wants me to leave her sight. To be honest I'm glad she has someone to look up to, I just don't want that someone to be me . . ."

Ahsoka's expression turned perplexed "What do you mean?"

He decides to answer that with a question "Do you think it's wise to have a young girl to look up to a SPARTAN super soldier as a role model? I don't want her to start following in my footsteps."

She got up from her seat and headed over to James where she sits down next to him, she understood how the sniper felt on this particular subject, her voice was calm and "Then you need to tell her, hopefully she'll understand."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then she will eventually . . . but the most important thing you have to do is to not push her away. You're the only one she really cares about and listens to, she needs you more than anything right now to help her."

He lets out a small sigh "Maybe you're right . . . I can't afford to lose sight of what matters besides than Covenant and the Empire. I still have a duty to uphold to Cila, Jorge and Percival, the Jedi . . . and to you."

Tano gives a warm smile to hear that, she was glad to have this SPARTAN on her side ready to take on anything that would ever present themselves as a threat to those he could begin to call family.

Eventually the two began to share a grin with each other until the intercom came to life and Lux's voice crackled through "Ahsoka I think we're arriving at our destination . . . I'm picking something an unusual signal from a ship."

That prompted the two to stand up on their feet, James collecting the fallen pieces of armor he had taken off, and head out of the medical bay with Ahsoka taking the lead.

It wasn't long before the two entered the cockpit to see Bonteri's worried face and the flow of stars beginning to rupture as a sign of an inevitable drop out of Hyperspace. But to Lux's surprise neither seemed worried at all, especially Longarm who stood patiently for their arrival.

Ahsoka took up her seat at the helm and made preparations for the drop out, the SPARTAN began to talk "Senator, what you're about to see is our most dangerous asset to this rebellion that you will ignite. While you are our voice that will cry for revolution, we are the spear and shield that will strike down the Empire and protect the innocent. But this vessel is our tip of that spear."

The stars began to distort and warp, Lux couldn't help but fixate his eyes on the stars ahead of them until they finally broke apart and the blackness of normal space came back into view. But what immediately caught his attention was the array of lights emitting from this massive four hundred-eighty five meter long angular vessel that sported a jet black finish and a heavily armored angular design. The warship floated off in the distance but as the small sixty four meter long cruiser closed in the senator could make out the more finer details, such as twin-barreled point defense guns, missile silos lining the outer titanium alloy hull, and the two massive stacked barrels on the ship's prow that indicated it as the destroyer's primary armament. He had never seen such a warship or even one of its design architecture in his life, and as they glided into position along the ship's starboard hull he could make out the large bold white letters and numbers printed in English but he couldn't quite read it:

**_UNSC DDH-151 VANGUARD_**

The SPARTAN then welcomed their newest member to their rebellion "Welcome aboard the _UNSC Vanguard_ . . ."

**I'm sorry it's been a while since the last update, I sort of lost the motive to write due to family, work, and friends. But I'm back in action and more chapters will follow soon.**

**As always leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	39. Additional Assets

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 39**

**"****Additional assets"**

[UNSC_Vanguard_, Unknown Regions]

The Gozanti cruiser floated to a gradual halt alongside one of the destroyer's airlocks and extended the docking tube where it interlocked with the larger vessel. The clamps were secured and the trio aboard the corvette-sized ship began making their way through the tube, Lux and Ahsoka walking side by side while James followed them behind.

"It's good to be home again . . ." Tano remarks as the group neared the UNSC airlock.

"I couldn't agree more" James adds.

Bonteri said nothing, instead he was overwhelmed with a sense of anxiety and nervousness which was something unlike him until now, the idea of boarding an extra-galactic warship was daunting in its own rights.

The three reached the lock where the SPARTAN steps forward and inputs the security door allowing them entry into the destroyer, the first hatch opens with a hiss of air prompting them to step inside and begin the air pressurization procedure where the hatch closes behind them and the air pressure corrects itself to match that of the parent vessel, then a second hatch in front of them slides open and the three finally came aboard what would be the key piece in their future rebellion. Bonteri was greeted with a dull grey three-way intersection with a hexagonal interior design, corridors large enough for three people to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder, the air was stale and recycled much like the ships of their galaxy, and no one was there to welcome Ahsoka and Longarm home or to greet him.

"So much for a welcoming party" he comments.

James takes a step into the intersection and stops in front of him "There's not a lot of us to begin with, eight of us now with you at our side."

"Then I'm glad to be with you here today."

"Good to know."

"James!" a young voice called out with joy.

Lux, along with Ahsoka and Longarm, turned to see a young pantoran girl sprinting through the empty corridor towards them but it wasn't long for him to notice the giant eight foot armored goliath walking a little ways behind the girl. He notices the ODST-clad SPARTAN come to a knee just as the girl came and threw her arms around his torso, he flinches in pain when she unknowingly placed her hand over his injuries but she didn't realize it and he gently places his armored arms around her as she held firmly to his chest.

Bay held on as long as she could until James had to be the one to break away and ask "Hey kid, how's your training coming along?"

"It's going great! Master Lador is really patient with me whenever I'm struggling . . . but . . ."

"But what? What's the matter?"

"My kyber crystal- it's gone . . ."

Ahsoka intervened "What do you mean?"

"Shortly after you two left I went to do more saber practice, but my lightsaber wouldn't activate, and when I looked my crystal was gone."

"Did you dissemble your lightsaber at any time before you went to practice?" the commando wondered.

"No . . ."

Jorge finally catches up with the pantoran and adds "She begged me to search every room for it, haven't found it yet. Not wanting to call anyone out but I think someone took it."

"Who would do that?" Tano asked.

But James already had an idea "I'll handle it don't worry. Tano, how about you take Bay and help her with her force training."

"Sure thing."

Lux then asked "Mind if I come along? Perhaps as a sort of tour of the ship."

The togruta nods with a grin which prompted Cila to head over to her but as James stood she noticed he grunted in pain for only a moment, she immediately became worried "James? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing Bay . . . I uh . . ." he knew there was no way he could lie about this so he braced himself "I took a blaster bolt to the back for Ahsoka . . . the armor took most of the damage."

"You're hurt!? Why didn't you tell me until now!?"

"I didn't want to scare you . . ."

Tano had to rest her hand on Cila's shoulder "James is going to the medical bay to get his wounds checked, he'll be alright don't worry."

But Bayu wasn't fully convinced when she asked the SPARTAN "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'm still standing aren't I?" he asked with a small grin underneath his helmet.

Bay didn't give a grin or even an expression of amusement, it was then when Ahsoka finally prompted her to come with her to the training bay with Lux Bonteri in tow leaving the two SPARTANs alone.

"I get the feeling you know who it is don't you?" Jorge asked.

"I have an idea, but I'll deal with that on my own" Longarm answered as the two begin walking down a separate corridor heading towards the mid-section.

As the two continued walking down the empty hallways Jorge manages to get a better look at his comrade's injuries, similar in many ways to the time of damage a covenant plasma weapon can inflict, and states "You got to get that looked at."

"I know . . ." he responded before he gave an exhausted sigh and asked "Percival?"

The British accented voice responded apologetically "Terribly sorry SPARTAN, I was distracted by something."

"It's alright, what has happened while we were gone?"

"Nothing to note on the Imperial Holonet, but we were able to make better use of our time out here."

James wasn't sure where the AI was going with this "Alright?"

"First I've taken the liberty of repairing and modifying your Mk. lV armor using some of the modifications you made to your Mk. V, you should see some similarities when you arrive in the armor bay."

"I could've done it myself, Percival, but thank you."

"That's not all. During your absence we've also deployed a slipspace probe to report the positions of the Covenant fleet in the Azloc System; it is currently on route to its destination."

The SPARTAN was rather pleased to hear that "Good work, hopefully soon we'll know what we're dealing with. Is there anything else you want to add?"

"Actually yes . . . and I'm quite sure Ahsoka would be very pleased to hear this."

Jorge quickly adds "We've detected a nearby debris field floating out in open space, an abandoned battlefield from the Clone Wars, and managed to find some good usable salvage, including a Jedi fighter in need of repairs. I haven't informed Miss Tano about it because I plan to have it as a bit of a surprise."

"Did anything else turn up?"

The AI reports "Well we were able to recover some materials we could use to make repairs and even reinforce our external hull plating making the destroyer much more resilient to enemy fire, though such a task will require approximately an entire month to complete, but . . ."

"But what?" the sniper wondered.

"We also recovered a number of deactivated droids, some were more damaged than others, but if we can bring these droids back into commission we should have a sizeable workforce to maintain the _Vanguard, _and speaking of the possible hull upgrades- with the droids the timeframe of the labor will be reduced to a mere few days, a week at most."

"Not to mention it'll be a good start for an army" Jorge adds.

"So how many droids did you recover?" James asked.

"Three hundred and seventy six units have been recovered, all of which are waiting to be repaired and brought back online. And before you ask, once they're repaired we'll install an external remote command module that will give me full control as long as they remain aboard the ship or in close proximity."

"That's great news . . . then again I suppose I'm the one that has to put them back together."

"Not to worry, some merely ran out of power and needed a simple recharge. Jorge and I already remedied that part and got several droids back online. You and perhaps Miss Tano will have to reassemble the rest, given the amount of experience she has with them."

"Alright I'll get to that as soon as possible, is there anything else I should know?"

"In terms of our survival and that of your upcoming rebellion, no, but on a personal note you'll be pleased to know that Bayu has made remarkable progress in her training after what you've done for her. Of course that was until her crystal has been stolen . . ."

"You know who it is don't you?" Jorge wondered.

"I only have an idea" James answered assuring "Kyber crystals don't just get up and walk- at least as far as I know."

"Well before you do anything, it's best to get your injuries examined" the AI states.

"I know, I know . . ."

[Corridors, on route to training bay]

"So this ship took on the entire separatist fleet in the Null Sector?" Lux wondered as he glanced at every small detail of the _Vanguard's_ interior design, he could guess with the heavy engineering and structuring that the vessel was meant to take severe punishment.

"Yep, all in one fatal blow" Ahsoka answered as she led the way.

"Speaking of that fatal blow, where do they keep their nuclear arsenal?"

"Somewhere deep in the ship inside a heavily secured vault. Good luck asking Percival how to find it."

"Right. So who was that big guy we saw?"

"That was Jorge, sure he's seems intimidating at first but he's a bit of a softie when you get to know him."

"Hmph . . . that'll be the day. So Longarm's real name is James is it?"

Cila happily turned to face the senator stating "Yep! He's a really great guy to be around."

"So how did you two meet?" Lux wondered.

The young pantoran turned back to follow Ahsoka but walked alongside their new ally "Well actually he found me when I was still at the temple after what happened, I lost my master when things got out of hand and I became afraid. James was there to keep me safe and look after me even though we just met, I was really glad he came when he did."

"You must've been lucky."

"Yeah . . ." her expression saddened "If only he was there to save everyone else . . ."

Tano turned her head "I'm sure James would've done anything to be there."

Bonteri then frowned "I guess I don't get it . . ."

"Get what?"

"Where he's from- you'd think a person like him wouldn't offer a hand in kindness and risk his life for people he never knew or thought of."

"But he did, because he saw it as his duty to protect those in need. That's the oath of a SPARTAN."

"Hm . . . I guess I just need time to understand things."

The three eventually arrived at the bulkhead hatch of the training bay, the hatch slid open with an air releasing hiss which presented the large open training room before them. As they stepped inside they immediately found Cain Komari and Lador Mattis silently meditating together on the floor in the middle of the room. Of course the two Jedi did not pay the arrivals any attention, whether they were aware or not, but it didn't seem to bother them as they headed off to a separate part of the bay where there was some lifting weights and other devices used to keep UNSC personnel in top physical shape.

Tano pulls off a pair of thirty pound weights from the racks and placed them on the floor side by side, she glanced at Bonteri who was checking out a punching bag that had seen better days, then turned her attention back to Cila asking "Alright let's start simple for today."

But Bayu didn't seem quite like her enthusiastic self "With all due respect Ahsoka . . . I don't think I'm up for it today . . ."

"What's wrong?"

"Just thinking about everything that's happened over the past few weeks . . ."

The togruta kneels down before the youngling and placed her hand on her shoulders "Bay, I know things are difficult and things aren't clear to understand. But I can assure you that things will get better."

"How?" Cila asked, her eyes stared into Tano's with sadness and misunderstanding.

Lux reassures her "I guess we'll just have to have faith in our new friends, like you do with James . . ."

The child thought about it, so far the SPARTANs have come through everything they had done for the Jedi and it was because of James that she has someone to rely on closely for support especially through dark times such as these. Perhaps Lux was right to think they have to trust one another no matter what, whether they were Republic, UNSC, Jedi, SPARTAN, because as of the rise of the Galactic Empire they are all now considered rebels for a new cause.

Bayu figured it was time to change the subject and asked Ahsoka "Can we show him more of the ship?"

Tano grinned "Sure" and stood up before the three began heading out of the bay.

As they left, Mattis had opened his eyes and lets out a depressed sigh.

Komari sensed a feeling of confusion rising within his friend, prompting him to cease meditating and ask "What is troubling you my friend?"

Lador grunted "Perhaps the Senator has truth behind those words . . . about relying on our new allies."

"They're dangerous Lador, what could we possibly gain from this relationship with the soldiers?"

"A better future perhaps, a day where the Jedi can return and peace is brought back to the galaxy, not this militaristic totalitarian autocracy."

"Perhaps . . . but at what cost? How far will the SPARTANs go to achieve this sought out peace, how many will have to lose their lives?"

"I know Komari . . . but as much as you hate to hear it I believe Senator Bonteri is right. No matter what now we are all at the receiving end of the Empire's wrath, all of us branded enemies in the eyes of the galaxy."

Afterwards Mattis began to stand up on his feet and started walking towards the exit explaining "Forgive me friend, I just need time to contemplate."

Cain remained seated as he felt Lador's presence drift away, his voice saddened "I understand . . ." and returned to his meditation alone.

[Sixteen minutes later, lift]

Ahsoka, Lux, and Cila stood on the lift making its way up to the command deck, the mechanical whir dominated the silence as everyone stood there without a word. Ahsoka was calm as usual, a small grin of pleasure was present on her face, while Bayu seemed a bit ecstatic anticipating the next part of the tour even though she has already seen the bridge, but Lux seemed somewhat nervous not knowing what to expect.

Cila turned her head towards the senator and cheerfully asks "How do you like the ship so far?"

Bonteri's eyes met hers "It's nothing I was expecting to be honest."

Tano then comes into the conversation "What were you expecting?"

"Well I wasn't expecting a dedicated warship of this size for starters. Maybe a bigger crew . . ."

She decided it was time to explain the events that transpired long ago "The crew died out when the _Vanguard_ first came to our galaxy, James was the only being to survive afterwards. He spent five years repairing the ship up until only about two months ago when it launched from Saleucami, it even made its first kill that day."

The lift comes to a stop at the top of the shaft, there the bulkhead hatch slid open revealing a small corridor with another door at the far end. Ahsoka took the lead with Bay and Lux in tow, everything seemed quiet and dull until they reached the door on the other side. After Tano puts in the key code to the hatch it hisses open allowing the three to walk aboard the bridge for Lux to see, however what immediately caught everyone's attention was the fact that a crew of active B1 Battledroids inhabited the bridge with most of them working on control terminals and monitoring stations, one droid with yellow markings was speaking directly with Percival's avatar standing on the holotable in the middle of the room.

Ahsoka instinctively reached for her lightsabers quickly ordering the two behind her "Get behind me!"

The British officer turned around with a curious expression "Something wrong Ma'am?"

The togruta took another moment for a second look at what was happening, none of the droids were visibly armed nor seemed alarmed by her presence, most didn't even acknowledge she was there, the commander droid itself had at first a hand up in a steady salute to the AI hologram but was now puzzled why the Jedi armed herself.

"Percy . . . what's going on?" she asked now confused herself.

"Oh I forgot to inform you, we've detected a nearby debris field from one the early battles of the Clone Wars. We managed to salvage some of these droids and brought them back online."

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

". . . It slipped my mind" the AI curtly responded.

She raised an eyebrow, not exactly expecting an answer like that from someone such as him, but shortly after that he gives a warm encouraging grin which seemed to have made her ease up a little. Afterwards she stows her hilts and took a step towards the holotable, she continued to glance between the WWl British officer and the droid commander until she decide to let it go for now.

Bayu quickly changed the subject and waved "Hi Percival!"

He turns his eyes to hers and greeted her "And hello to you as well Miss Cila, have you any luck in finding your crystal?"

"No . . ." she sighed "You?"

"I'm still monitoring every camera on this ship, rest assured if it comes across one of them I'll know about it. I'm confident it will turn up soon."

She then gave gentle smile "Thanks Percy."

It was finally Lux's turn to step up and ask "So you're the great Percival I've been hearing about?"

The avatar swiftly placed his boots together and thrown his right hand up into a stern salute "UNSC AI serial number (PRC 5281-0) 'Percival' at your service Senator."

Bonteri steps forward in front of Percival and asks "So what exactly is an AI?"

"AI stands for artificial intelligence, Senator, we were solely created for the task of operating various complex and significantly important systems and installations whereas human personnel are not capable of handling."

"So you can run this entire ship by yourself if you wanted to?"

"I have been for the past five years, it's actually quite a relief now that I have the aid of these repurposed droids."

Tano wondered "How many did you recover?"

"Enough" the officer responded "Most of them are still waiting to be put back on and reactivated down in the hangar."

"So what do you do in your free time Sir?" Bonteri asked.

"Well I tend to enjoy giving history lessons to Miss Tano and watch over Cila whenever SPARTAN James has gone away- speaking of which, Ahsoka when do you plan to begin our next lesson?"

"Soon Percy" she replied with a small smile.

The hologram nodded in acknowledgement then went back to the previous question "Anyways I also enjoyed catching up on events on the holonet and ensure that all systems onboard the _Vanguard_ are operating at optimum efficiency."

Afterwards the droid commander returns to the AI holotable and reports "Sir, medical bay reports that SPARTAN-121 has been cleared for duty."

"Good, thank you."

The droid turns away as Ahsoka states "Well I think we should keep going with the tour, maybe the hangar next."

As the three began to make their way out, Percival stops them "Perhaps you'd like to stop by S-Deck, let the Senator meet the _real_ James after so long."

The togruta stopped and nodded to that with a grin, afterwards the three headed out, leaving the AI to his devices.

[Twenty three minutes later, S-Deck]

On Deck Seven, James had already removed his ODST armor in exchange for the MJOLNIR titanium nanocomposite suit as he prepares for the armoring procedure. His injuries had been looked over during his brief visit to the medical bay, and after Percival had performed a quick examination and medical rehabilitation the SPARTAN was cleared for duty once more. It was a miracle the bacta patches had performed and James was lucky to have had that sort of technology to aid in his healing process.

The second generation commando flexed his right arm, getting the familiar feel of his bodysuit once again, when Jorge, standing off to the side leaning his left shoulder on the wall next to him, wondered "You think things will ever go back to normal for this galaxy?"

James answered as he ran his right hand across his left arm "Normal? Jorge there's nothing normal about this galaxy, which I can say the same for our own."

The giant didn't bother to grin, not amused by the comment, "You know what I'm talking about."

The sniper then sighed "If the question is; Will the galaxy ever return to the days of the Republic? With the help of the Jedi and the trust of the people, we can make it so again."

"How do we gain that trust? Show that we won't stand for the Empire?"

"That and provide aid to those in need, we can't just focus on one aspect of fighting the enemy."

At that moment the two heard the bulkhead door hiss open letting Ahsoka, Bayu, and Lux in to the bay, almost immediately Bonteri examines the unarmored SPARTAN from the head down seeing the black bodysuit James had finished putting on. Jorge glanced over and gave an acknowledging nod to the three as they came closer and stopped just a few feet away from Longarm who was getting ready for the armoring procedure.

Ahsoka continued "And this is S-Deck, where SPARTANs go to get their armor and equipment."

The Senator makes a comment as he looked around the room "Huh . . . for a room that's so important I was expecting it to be a little . . . bigger."

"How's the tour coming along?" James wondered.

"We already showed him the training bay, armories, the bridge, sleeping quarters, and the gun range" Tano answered.

"Haven't gone to the hangar yet?"

"We're about to."

"Wait a moment we'll come with you, I need to perform maintenance on the Sabre anyways."

The togruta nodded "Alright" then turned to Bonteri with a small grin "You'll like this part."

As the three watched from where they stood, James steps onto the central platform prompting Jorge to press his finger on the activation icon on the holographic control board. From there the mechanical arms stretched outwards with segments of green titanium alloy armor in their grasps, latching piece by piece with each locking into place with the bodysuit. Tano crossed her arms while Cila watched with awe and Lux with undivided attention as the SPARTAN's body was slowly engulfed in a rigid shell of heavy armor. Bonteri couldn't have guessed at how many pieces had been assembled together or how heavy the suit weighed. With the torso, arms, and shoulders finally assembled together, a pair of clamps holding on to a roundish olive helmet with a wide exposed gold visor came down and fitted the helmet over the soldier's head which locked itself with an air tightening hiss signaling that the suit was now EVA capable and combat ready.

Ahsoka then stated "Lux, say hello to the _real_ SPARTAN James" as the seven foot behemoth steps off and flexes his body yet again to reacquaint himself with the suit.

"I've never seen armor assembled like that" he notes.

Longarm stretched his arms and shoulders as he explained "This isn't the typical standard issue body armor you're used to seeing Senator. This is the Mark lV MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, plated with a dense titanium alloy and refractive coated the outer shell can defend against small arms ballistics fire and even a few blasts from directed energy weapons. It comes readily equipped with energy shielding, weapon readouts, and a motion tracker with an adjustable range, all powered by a micro-fusion reactor that was introduced into the final production model."

"So a glorified suit of armor . . ." Bonteri remarked.

But James dismisses the comment and continues "The most impressive part of the suit is a layer of classified material that grants us inhuman capabilities such as enhanced strength, speed, reaction time, and mobility that far surpasses any normal human."

The senator then glanced at Jorge's suit asking "Why does his look different then?"

The big man himself answered that "This is the Mark V, his was damaged a while back."

As Longarm finished getting readjusted to his armor he asks "Percival what were the modifications you made to the armor?"

Then to Lux's surprise, an English voice emanated from an unseen source "Well with the Mk. V out of commission with no efficient way of restoring it to optimum levels, I took the liberty of stripping it down for parts and began utilizing some of the components to further enhance the potential of the Mk. lV. Energy shield strength increased by thirty three percent, a portion the titanium shell is now comprised of the denser alloy used in the Mk. V construction including the chest plates and shoulder guards, and as an added bonus I incorporated your personal touches onto the Mk. lV, such as a specialized magnetic strip on your right shoulder pad which will allow you to carry that electrostaff you seemed to be fond of."

James took a glimpse at his right shoulder plate, finding the pad modified with the mentioned strip tailored made to securely grasp the handle bar of the staff, then he responded "Thank you Percival."

"It was my pleasure doing so. Now, I believe we were all heading to hangar bay?"

[Elevator lift]

Twenty minutes has passed since they left S-Deck, now they all stood on the mechanical lift that was descending down to the lower decks where the ventral hangar was located. All five of them waited silently with some occasional glances being shared among them, save for James who simply looked ahead as if he was staring at something in the distance. Cila stood close to the SPARTAN sniper while Jorge and Ahsoka stood off to the side, Lux was standing off a few feet from Longarm and continued to examine the armor which he found intriguing. Eventually Bay took hold of James' hand, her small blue hands were only large enough to fully grasp three of his fingers before her entire hand was engulfed by his own, Bonteri took note of that and realized that the relationship between the two was something more akin to a father-daughter relationship given that she expressed care and stood very close to the soldier at given times while he watched over her ever since he found her at the temple and exhibited concern when he was told about the missing crystal.

Glancing at the eight foot SPARTAN and Ahsoka, both standing against the walls of the lift with their arms crossed now talking among themselves though he couldn't hear exactly what, Lux figured they had something in common but it was hard to tell. That was until Jorge glared at the senator and gestured him to come over to join in on their conversation.

He does so, coming within feet of the two, and Jorge asks "She's been telling me about the time you two met, what was it like to meet an enemy face to face?"

"You should tell me" Lux retorts "You've done it longer than I've been alive."

"No no not like that. I'm talking about meeting an enemy but on more pleasant circumstances."

"Well . . . I suppose it was a little awkward and frustrating to think about it, especially in my case after my father was killed by clones early in the war."

"I'm sorry to hear that . . ."

"Thank you, but it was because of my mother that Ahsoka and I learned to try and understand each other- Republic and Separatists- so that one day we could achieve peace."

Jorge fell silent momentarily, his helmeted head bowed as he sighed to himself, ". . . sorry things didn't turn out the way your mother wanted. I'm sure she's going to do everything she can to bring peace back."

"My mother died as well, at the hands of Dooku . . . I heard he died in the Battle of Coruscant, I hope he got everything he deserved" the Senator spoke with some bitterness in his voice.

Ahsoka chipped in "Then it's up to us to fulfill your mother's wishes."

The lift grinds to a halt on the lowest level where the large bulkhead doors creaked and slid open revealing a small corridor for the five to travel through. James and Cila were the first to start walking, side by side, and the rest followed suit afterwards with Ahsoka and Lux next to one another and Jorge lumbering behind.

Another minute of silence passed until they reached another set of specially designed reinforced doors, built to keep boarders from intruding into the vessel beyond the hangar, in which Longarm inputs an eight digit code into an adjacent keypad. In response, the magnetic locks unlocked themselves and the heavy doors slid open with a hiss of air revealing the vast interior of the _Vanguard's_ ventral hangar bay. One by one the group walked into the bay, some first noticing the large pile standing at the port starboard side full of a variety of deactivated droids from the meek B1s to the more powerful B2s and even the dome head of a DSD1 Dwarf Spider Droid from what they could see.

"Got a nice collection here Percy" Ahsoka remarked as the group neared the pile of steel limbs and bodies.

Jorge muttered under his breath "I did all the work . . ." but no one heard, save for James who grinned behind his helmet.

"These were what we could recover so far but there are possibly plenty more to salvage from the debris field" Percival explained.

Longarm began examining the droid pile, seeing some more intact than others, and states "Well it's going to take us some time before we can get them back online, a month perhaps."

Tano adds "I can help you out, though it looks like some droids are beyond saving."

"We'll just have to do what we can."

However in the midst of the conversation, Bonteri was looking about finding several rigid looking air and space craft such as the large olive drab Pelican dropship and the small angular Sabre fighter, even a pair of what looked like sleek fighters with no visible cockpit. However he immediately recognizes the clone LAAT gunship that sat idle next to its equally large UNSC counterpart, though he couldn't identify the strange yellow markings that were made to it. And finally his eyes came to a stop at what was shrouded underneath a large sheet of cloth to keep the dust off, while everyone was talking themselves the Senator decides to walk over and investigate. The closer he came the more he began to realize the angular design of whatever it could be.

That was when Percival's voice asked "Senator Bonteri, might I ask what you're doing?"

Lux froze, he had already forgotten that the AI has eyes and ears practically everywhere in and around the ship, he had to respond "I was just . . . browsing."

The others turned to see where Lux was heading to, Ahsoka noticed the covered object and wondered "Haven't seen that before, what is it?"

Jorge walked up next to her and stated "Just a little something I found while I was out in that debris field . . . figured you might like it."

She glanced up at the eight foot SPARTAN, unable to tell what Jorge was thinking behind that opaque visor of his, and soon curiosity began to take over prompting her to start walking over to the unknown object. Cila wanted to follow but James stopped her by gently holding onto her shoulder, Ahsoka then passed Bonteri and closed in on what she was focused on. In a manner of moments the togruta stops just a foot from the object, now appearing primarily triangular and nearly the size of the wombat drones she sees currently sitting dormant next to each other not too far from where she was. A moment of hesitation came over her but she quickly waved it off and pulled the covers off, the SPARTANs and Percival waited for her reaction.

What she uncovered was a battle-damaged Delta-7 Jedi Interceptor that was surprisingly still intact despite the years it had been adrift though there were complications that made themselves present. The hull along the fighter's port side had been ravaged by blaster fire with the hull pierced in several locations, the classic red and white color scheme appeared to have corroded from the constant exposure to hard vacuum and radiation that lied in open space, and the cockpit canopy was shattered beyond repair. But after another quick examination it would seem that the engines and weapons may be saved despite the wear and tear.

Ahsoka quickly turned to Jorge, shock in her eyes, "Where did you get this!?"

The big man chuckled "Hehe, I told you in the debris field. What you should be asking is how I got it in here but let's not talk about it. What do you think?"

She turns back to the fighter, running her hand along the thin durasteel plating "Jorge this is amazing . . . I don't know what to say."

"Say nothing, I figured you were in need of a fighter so when I came across her I had to bring her in. Hopefully we can restore her to working order."

Longarm added "And if you want we could probably add some UNSC modifications to it . . . weapons, perhaps some reinforced hull plating or countermeasures."

Tano continued to glare at the fighter, finding all of the finer features of the craft, then she turned to the others with a warm smile of approval which made Jorge proud of it.

"I'll begin immediate diagnostics of the fighter and see what needs to be repaired, meanwhile I think it's time to bring some of those droids back into service."

James nodded "Agreed, I'll get started."

Cila added "James can I help?"

"Sure."

Bonteri shrugged "Well it's not exactly what I envisioned of a tour but this one has already surprised me.

Jorge ventured over to Tano, still standing by the Delta-7, and states "If you need help with this, just let me know."

"She continued to grin "Thanks big guy, let's get to work."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	40. Rally and Division

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 40**

**"****Rally and Division"**

[UNSC _Vanguard_, ventral hangar bay, three hours later]

SPARTAN Longarm takes a step back and sits down on the hard flooring next to the starboard side wall to take a brief break from assembling droids from the still very large pile of broken down machinery before him. So far he had put thirty seven B1s back together, as well as five B2s and one of the trickier DSD1 Spider Droids, while Jorge managed to repair twelve droids before having to resume his daily patrols around the ship, Cila went with him. Ahsoka had already repaired forty seven droids before she headed off to take a shower, put her normal clothing back on after having to lug around the heavy ODST issued armor and gear for a day, then return to the hangar so she could get started on her newly acquired star interceptor. As of now she was currently lying underneath the fighter craft using what tools were available to her to make repairs to the best of her abilities, that was until she came out from underneath and wiped her greased forehead before she stood up and started to make her way towards the resting soldier.

She eventually reaches him and sits down next to him against the wall, he was silent but she wondered "You ever thought about life existing in another galaxy? Before all of this?"

He turned his helmeted head towards her for a brief moment before he faced forward again "When we made first contact with the Covenant, I started to rethink about everything, even what lied beyond our galactic border."

"What did you imagine?"

". . . Something far worse than the Covenant. But then again I suppose I was half right about that."

She chuckled "Huh, what makes you say that?"

"Well . . . I don't recall engaging four-armed droid commanders, Force wielding swordsmen, clones, and droids in my thirty years of experience."

She had to ask "And the other half?"

"On the other hand I didn't expect everything we have gone through so far."

"Yeah I can say the same . . ."

The two fell quiet afterwards letting the silence fill the hangar but soon enough James asked "How's the Senator?"

"He's trying to come up with a speech for his broadcast, though I'm starting to think he's not with us a hundred percent just yet."

"He's not fully convinced we're capable of taking on the empire."

"Yeah."

The two went silent yet again, Ahsoka simply stared out into the empty hangar looking from ship to ship while James began to glance at his own gloved hands. It had never happened to him before but ever since the Imperial Ball he felt conflicted inside with all of these emotions and gut feelings, the fear he felt when Ahsoka kissed him was probably the worst he ever felt in his entire life. He felt confused, unsure of how to cope with this sort of ordeal , and worried that this may inevitably compromise a mission or the safety of themselves.

"What're you thinking?" Tano asks when her eyes turned to him.

His head then turned to her "Hmm?"

"You got something on your mind, what is it?"

"Nothing . . ." he answered before looking back at himself "It's just something I have to figure out myself."

"Okay . . . I think I'm going to go take a break, you wanna come?"

He took a moment to decide "No . . . I'll stay here and keep working."

"Alright" she answered as she stood up "Just don't work yourself too hard. You need some rest yourself."

Afterwards she begins making her way towards the exit, leaving the SPARTAN alone with his droids, and once she was out of sight he got back up and resumed his work.

[One hour later, Command Bridge]

Aboard the bridge, the recently activated B1 droids continued monitoring various systems and sensors throughout the ship by Percival's orders. The OOM command battle droid was starting to feel like a first mate to the AI who couldn't help but feel pride and joy in having a sizable crew once again after so long, true he would miss his former captain and crew due to the bond they had as one but the changing of command would've happened one way or another. He just didn't expect it to happen like this.

The commander droid stepped in front of the AI's avatar, who currently appeared lost in his thoughts, and reports "Sir, we have another fifteen droids ready for command, what should I tell them?"

The droid's voice snapped Percival out of his moment and he looks to the machine "Good . . . have them begin aiding SPARTAN-121 in the reassembly efforts, the sooner we have our droid army reassembled the quicker we can move onto other matters."

"Roger Roger."

The droid steps away to relay the orders to its bridge crew leaving Percival back to his mind, but his moment didn't last when he hears the bulkhead hatch swish open behind him. He turns and finds Ahsoka, Lux, and Bayu walking in together talking about something.

The British officer gave a warm grin just as Cila turned and greeted him "Hi Percy!"

"And hello to you too Miss Cila, how was your day?"

"It's alright, have you found my crystal yet?"

"I'm afraid not, but in a moment I'm going to have James get on the case."

She smiled to that "Thank you . . . this means a lot."

"I know my dear" the AI nodded before he looks up to Tano and Bonteri and addresses the former "Are you ready for another history lesson?"

Tano answered "In a way yes, but I think Lux here needs some inspiration for his speech."

The officer looked to the senator "Having trouble are we?"

Lux steps forth and asks "How far do you believe everyone will go to achieve this rebellion against a greater foe?"

From that question the AI grinned "Hm, I believe I have something for that."

His avatar begins to step away from the middle of the holotable towards one of the corners as he spoke "I believe to find the answer to that we'll have to go back a few centuries, about six to be more precise."

From the holotable rose a representation of Earth and her continents, he continues "In the twentieth century, six hundred and seventeen years ago, our cradle world was engulfed in global war. The two major powers of this conflict was the Allied Powers, consisting of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, France, eventually the United States of America who entered later in the war after a devastating attack on their home soil by the Japanese, and a number of other countries that opposed the Axis Powers."

As he said the names of each participant in the war their territories lit up with their national flag waving, he went on "On the other side were the Axis, with Germany, Italy, and the Empire of Japan."

The Earth itself then disappeared and in its place showed a map of Europe with borderlines drawn out through it "The war officially began in 1939 when German troops marched into its neighbor state, Poland, and began its campaign to persecute Jewish men and women believing they were the direct cause of the poor state of their home after their first defeat in the First World War roughly twenty years prior."

Percival then notices Lux's glare, while seemingly interested it was clear that he was still trying to find the answer to his question, he decides to speed things up "But I suppose the lesson I have for all of you today will be found near the end of the war."

The map of Europe shifted from its place and soon a large region of water appeared with two land masses on either side, the United States on the right and Imperial Japan on the left "Five years later, with Germany and Italy now largely defeated. The Japanese Empire continued to hold its ground against the much larger industrial might of the States. With the climbing losses of ships, planes, and islands to hold, the Japanese began to grow desperate and decided to launch a campaign of Kamikaze attacks, pilots flying fighter planes loaded with extra fuel and explosives and guiding them into American warships in a vainglorious fashion of death and honor. While the Kamikaze proved devastating at first, the Americans continued to construct and launch more ships than can be destroyed."

The map then narrowed down to the island of Japan itself "With the United States Navy now assaulting one of their closest islands, Okinawa, the Japanese couldn't afford to send what very few ships they still have in their arsenal. However Emperor Hirohito expressed his wishes that the navy will make every effort in aiding the defending Japanese forces on the island. After much debate it was decided that they would send the remaining ships they have to hopefully halt the invasion, including the super battleship _Yamato,_ in what would be known as Operation Ten-Go."

"Curious name . . ." Bonteri notes.

The AI nodded "Indeed" and soon the hologram narrowed even further down to one of the Japanese ports which harbored a massive warship lying in wait for deployment.

The ship itself caught the trio's attention with her heavy armament of cannons and vast size compared to the lesser naval vessels sitting around her. Tano even took note of how the weapon systems were aligned noticing the three primary gun housings, each carrying three individual cannons of a high caliber, centered in the hull with two mounted on the bow and the third placed on the aft. Second were two more gun batteries to compliment the main guns, much smaller in size and caliber but still featured the triple gun layout, and finally was the array of small anti-air cannons and machine guns spread out across the entirety of the ship. This alone foretold that the ship was immensely powerful.

The holotable then took the Japanese battleship and displayed it in the center for all to see and expanded it in size, Percival went on "The _Yamato_ was one of two ships under the Yamato-Class Battleship line, with her sister ship _Musashi _as her only other compatriot, and she served well with the Imperial Japanese Navy since the beginning of the war. Measuring at two hundred and sixty three meters long from bow to aft and weighing in at over seventy thousand tons on a full combat load, this battleship was the largest combat vessel ever created by humanity at that time, and not to mention with her nine on board eighteen inch guns she could put quite a dent into the _Vanguard_ given the opportunity. Her fierce anti-air armament can hold multiple squadrons at bay for a reasonable time but back then they did not carry advanced targeting systems but rather relied on the gunners' skills and intuition, they did however compensated this with immense volume of fire, something that may prove challenging for Longarm or even you Miss Tano."

Ahsoka gave a smirk in response but then asked "If it was so powerful what happened to it?"

"Well . . . the mission for _Yamato_ and her accompanying fleet was to make haste towards Okinawa and run themselves aground along the beaches of the island, from there they would be considered unsinkable and are to act as static gun batteries until they were truly destroyed. That did not happen however as the Americans caught wind of this and quickly made preparations."

The holographic battleship then shrunk and placed in open waters along with smaller eight destroyers and one light cruiser, all heading in one direction with waves rolling in their wake.

"Accompanying _Yamato_ are her smaller escorts assigned to defend her from enemy attacks. Miles away, two American carrier task forces began mobilizing their air wings launching multiple fighters and bombers hoping to crush the Japanese response fleet before they could reinforce Okinawa. A total approximate number of four hundred American aircraft launched their attacks in multiple waves, this combined force consisted of F6F Hellcat Naval Fighters and F4U Corsair Interceptors, SB2C Helldiver Dive Bombers carrying hundreds of kilograms of explosives, and TBF Avengers armed with Mark 13 Torpedoes well capable of punching through even the thickest of armor."

As mentioned the group watched as the first wave of planes appear on hologram and began their runs flying blindly without fear through the fierce anti-air fire and flak, completely dismissing the escort ships and targeting the battleship herself.

"Why aren't they attacking the other ships? Shouldn't they eliminate the defenders and make the _Yamato_ an easier target?" Ahsoka wondered.

"They could've done that" Percival answered "But each plane had a very limited payload, once they completed their run they must return to their home carrier to rearm and refuel, a process which will take too long in a situation where time isn't a luxury and the main priority is stopping _Yamato_ from reaching Okinawa and tear the American fleet apart."

Lux watched silently as wave after wave engaged the super battleship, flying courageously into fire just to drop a single bomb or torpedo, or even strafe the deck gunners with their onboard armament of 50. caliber machine guns. Each plane moved with such speed and grace it seemed that the pilots were used to this sort of combat situation, but even then he noticed only a few planes were ever shot down by incoming fire.

Cila's eyes were completely fixated on the _Yamato_ alone with her compliment of a hundred and ninety anti-aircraft guns, ranging from the dual heavy 127mm Type 89 flak batteries, numerous 25mm Type 96 AA autocannons and 13.2mm Type 93 heavy machine guns blistering with automatic fire. But what really caught her attention were the ship's primary armament, nine eighteen inch cannons designed to knock out enemy surface vessels, slowly turning each way to fire off massive rounds, it seemed impractical to use such large slow moving weapons on such small and nimble fighters. The battleship's firepower alone was enough to blacken the skies around her and to add to that was the combined fire of nine other vessels, a hellish bubble of airspace that no sane starfighter pilot would dare run through.

Wave after wave a rain of bombs or strings of torpedoes would strike the battleship, the torpedoes that missed their target would continue swimming until they struck another ship or miss completely and head out to open sea. It was amazing to see the _Yamato_ take such punishment but it became apparent that her speed had decreased after she took on enough water through the hull breaches below the waterline, some guns were permanently silenced whenever a bomb would obliterate a gun emplacement or a spray of bullets would tear up a crew of gunners. Under withering fire, the _Yamato_ was starting to weaken.

"The engagement lasted only about two hours before finally American pilots were able to stop her completely, not long after fires on board caused by the continuous bombings reached her forward magazines and detonated releasing an explosion reported to have been seen and heard from two hundred kilometers away. After the devastating blast the infamous battleship capsized and sank to the bottom of the sea, taking nearly all of her remaining crew with her to the darkness . . . only roughly two hundred and eighty men were rescued from the remaining destroyers before fleeing back to the Japanese homeland."

"So that's it then . . . the _Yamato_ sank and the Imperial Navy was defeated . . ." Bonteri summarized trying to understand the lesson "I'm sorry but what does this have to do with now?"

Percival seemed amused by the Senator's arrogance "My dear Senator did you not pay attention?" he then turned to Ahsoka "Tell me, what did you think of the Americans?"

"They were powerful . . . if they were able to muster four hundred planes as well as carrier groups and an invasion fleet at the same time, I'd say they were heavily industrial. They could produce anything and everything if they wanted" she answered.

"And the Japanese?"

"Severely outmanned and outgunned, but in the end they fought to the last man . . . dying to do what they believe will bring them honor and dignity."

"Quite . . ." the AI responded with a small grin before he turns back to Lux "You see, despite how outgunned and outnumbered the Japanese were near the end of the war they continued to fight ferociously to the end no matter what they outcome may be. Their numbers were dwindling but they didn't care, they continued to fight and the _Yamato_ was their greatest sacrifice yet. Take what you learned and look at the situation around you, what do you see?"

Bonteri took a moment to think and ponder about their current situation, he quickly came to realization "We're the Japanese . . ."

"And the Empire has taken the role of the Americans. We are severely outgunned and outnumbered- a million to one, but you don't see us giving up so easily. We stand our ground because we would rather die than surrender to the Empire and if we're going down we might as well take a few of them with us."

"I see . . . and yet you intend to succeed where the Japanese has not. Don't you think this is a lost fight?"

A new voice spoke from behind "Only if we intend on losing it."

The three turned around to see Jorge walking in, his helmet down by his side and his eyes narrowed on Bonteri "We've been in a tight spot before with the Covenant and we still kicked their tails, this isn't any different."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well we've came a long way from just starting out with James and Miss Tano, look at us now."

Lux had to admit he was impressed, if this merely started out with a SPARTAN and a former Jedi and now two ships with a fighter compliment, two SPARTANs, four Jedi, a Senator, an advanced 'Smart' AI, and a small army of battledroids then they had to be doing something right.

He gave a small grin "Huh, I guess we have something after all . . . and thanks to Percival, I think I have something" he then turns to the AI "Is there a way you can conceal my identity while I make my address to everyone?"

"Of course, it's no difficult task."

Ahsoka also notes "The Empire will make every effort to stop the transmission, I hope your ready for this."

"I'm successfully connected to the Holonet, if they make a move I'll know about it and deal with it accordingly. But I advise you be quick about this Senator."

"Of course" Bonteri smiled charismatically "I'll need a little time to prepare first."

[James' quarters]

SPARTAN-121 lied in bed in his armor with his eyes closed, he hadn't had rest for several days and lord did it feel good. He wasn't quite sure what everyone else was up to but he could only assume and hope. His quarters was dead silent with the only sounds being the shifting movement of his armor and the rustling of his cot. He was actually relieved that Percival managed to redirect some B1s to assist in repairing the dismantled droids which means their little army should be up to operational status in roughly two days which will also lead to the shortened time needed to reinforce the _Vanguard's_ titanium hull with durastell armor giving the destroyer superior protection against incoming fire, if only they could salvage some weapon systems from the wreckage to give the vessel better firepower but unfortunately that would consume far more energy than the output their deuterium fusion reactor can give.

An idea ran across his mind, perhaps with some raw materials they could construct several miniature ship-to-ship MAC batteries with their onboard fabricator, but the idea was quickly scrapped realizing that there would be no viable location for them to collect said materials and remain undetected by Imperial patrols.

Soon enough his terminal chimed which prompted him to sit up with a small grunt and see Percival's avatar appear on screen "Enjoying your rest SPARTAN?"

"I was . . ." he answered.

"Hmm, well I think it's time you begin to search for our missing crystal . . . and I'm afraid you already know what to do."

"Just leave it to me Percival, I'll handle it."

"Very well . . ." the AI nodded moments before his avatar disintegrates into the background.

As ordered he stands to, grabbing his Mk. lV helmet before fitting it over his head, and venture out into the corridor. He knew the first person to talk to.

[Twenty seven minutes later, Mess Hall]

The olive drab super soldier steps into the large cafeteria and quickly spots a solemn Lador Mattis eating alone. He quietly walks over until the Jedi notices him and sits down across from him, Mattis seemed unsure as to why the SPARTAN would come to him.

"Is there something I can help you with James?" he asks.

"I just need to ask a few questions, are you doing alright?"

The Jedi sighed as he put his fork aside "I'm fine . . . I'm just trying to grasp the gravity of our predicament."

"I understand . . . I also understand that while Ahsoka and I were gone to Onderon that Cila's crystal went missing, I know Jorge wouldn't do a thing like that. I just need to know where it is."

"You and think I know where it is?"

"No. I want to know where Cain took it."

Lador looked up at the SPARTAN, unable to determine whether he was kidding or being serious behind the gold visor "You believe it's him? How do you know it wasn't me?"

"Because you place Bayu's training ahead of everything else, you'd realize that without her crystal she would be too distracted to focus. You want her to be prepared for what's ahead but you can't do it if she's like this."

"And what makes you believe it is Komari?"

"Cain has shown to be against violence of any degree, I believe he fears that Cila may become something like Ahsoka or the other Jedi before the attacks on the temple. In order to stop her from becoming another saber wielding warrior he felt it is necessary to take the crystal and leave her without a weapon to train with. Not to mention he showed little interest in her training whenever we are around."

Mattis' eyes fell to the plate in front of him, the thought of his best friend resorting to stealing didn't set right with his mind and stomach, but the SPARTAN's reasoning wasn't flawed. He knew it was too good to be true but how could he refuse this information now. For Cila's sake he needed to help.

"I don't know where Komari is now, but I suggest caution when you confront him about it."

"Consider your warning noted" Longarm nods as he stands up and heads for the exit.

[Fifteen minutes later, Komari's Quarters]

James stood silently in front of the door leading into Cain's personal quarters, the Jedi was the only explainable answer for the disappearance of Cila's kyber crystal, and he knew what had to be done.

He gives the order in his calm tone "Percival, open it."

The AI responded rather cautiously "For the record . . . I strongly advise against this. If Cain isn't the one who took-"

"I know the risks . . . open it."

Without another word Percival opens the door allowing the SPARTAN entry into the Jedi's room, Komari was nowhere to be found and the room itself had no signs of his existence, as if he had never even sat foot in the room at all. He begins his search starting with the locker sitting next to the computer terminal, he opens the latch to only find a pressed immaculate naval uniform belonging to the previous owner that died long ago. There was nothing else of note inside so he closes it gently and moves onto the cot that seemed untouched, he lifts the small pillow revealing nothing to fruit and eventually pulled the blanket off finding nothing yet.

He begins raising the mattress itself when he hears a familiar voice address him "Looking for something?"

The SPARTAN turns to find the blind Cain Komari standing in the door way, his left arm crossed his chest while his right held out a small crystal, Cila's crystal.

"I figured it was you" he remarked as he stood up to confront the Jedi.

"I suppose it wasn't that difficult to figure it out, there is a thing called personal privacy if you hadn't noticed."

"Ever heard of personal property?" James points out "That crystal doesn't belong to you."

Cain scoffs "I'm well aware of it and I have my reasons for what I did, something a brute such as yourself will never understand."

The soldier opens his arms "Try me."

"Hmph . . . very well I'll amuse you. The reason I took this crystal from young Bayu was to save her, drive her away from a doomed tradition and send her down a path that will ensure her survival- not just as a surviving member of the Jedi Order but as pure being who will not kill or commit any sort of crime against life."

"So you're willing to commit a crime to prevent one?"

"Precisely. Let me ask you this, how do you think Bayu will respond when she makes her first kill whether it be a droid or a living being? How will she act when she arrives on her first battlefield and witness you and your allies slaughter hundreds all for a futile cause? What will you do when she comes to confront you about what it is like to kill and die in the field of battle? What will you say?"

James stopped and thought about it, it's true that one day Cila will become old enough to want to fight by the SPARTANs' side for the first time. Her trial by fire will be nothing like she could imagine and she will be afraid, something that may cost her life or that of those around her. She will begin to have questions and wonder why things such as war exist.

The soldier's head bowed "I don't know what I'll say . . . I can only do what I can right here and now, and that's to prepare her for what's to come."

The Cerean scolds the SPARTAN "You wish to prepare a child for a war she will not win? Such an ignorant gesture."

James then looks up and stares him in the eye "Whether you like it or not, the Empire doesn't share your sentiment on how to handle matters. When the time comes and they begin to board this destroyer, will you fight back to defend yourself and the lives of those on this ship?"

"I will only fight back to a degree, but I vowed to myself that I will never take a life and if it means being gunned down by Stormtroopers in a hail of blaster fire then so be it. But I will die knowing I stand by my beliefs."

"And what about Cila's beliefs? She deserves to live the way she chooses. You can't force her down a path that you have laid for her."

"And what of you? You intend to prepare her to fight and die for a cause against a force that you can never beat."

"I intend to prepare her for the time she will have to defend herself. Whether or not she chooses to stay and fight the Empire is not mine to make. She needs to decide for herself."

"No!" Komari raised his voice, tightening his grip around the crystal "The path she'll choose will only lead her to a mindless path just like everyone before her. I will not allow it to happen again!"

The super soldier stopped, his tone was calm and his mind what set on one thing "What happened to Agos and Eva?"

Cain's moment of anger quickly lulled as he thought back on his two apprentices, his expression saddened "They- . . . they were killed along with the others . . . They believed in their own power that they could stop Vader and his clones. Their violent ways had led them down a path I could not save them from . . . they're . . . gone."

His anger then fixated on the SPARTAN and his voice became firm "This is why I must do what has to be done, I will not let this happen again, not to young Cila."

James then began to raise his hands towards Komari in a calm manner "Cain, give me the crystal."

"No. I'm going to destroy it, this will mark the end of the warring ways of the Jedi."

"You destroy that crystal and that will be the last mistake you'll ever make."

"Is that a threat SPARTAN?"

"Consider it a promise."

The two stood silently, eyeing one another waiting for the other to make the first move, soon enough James took the first step towards the Jedi and in an instant Komari seized the SPARTAN's body and launched him towards the back wall before darting away down the corridors. James recovers moments later and storms out of the room before dashing off after the Cerean.

Cain ran at a steady pace, swiftly sprinting through intersections and open bulkheads, but when he glanced back he could see the augmented soldier keeping pace with him.

He then could hear his voice roar out "Percival! Seal the bulkheads at intersection J-7!"

As expected Cain could hear the bulkhead hatch ahead of him begin to descend from the ceiling at an alarming rate, he quickly uses the Force to give himself a sudden burst of speed but it was already too late by the time he reached the intersection and the hatches had fully sealed. He stops himself and turns to face James once again who slowed down to a slow cautious march.

"I'm not telling you again Cain, give me the crystal" he orders.

"I will not let you send Cila down a path that will lead her to a quicker death!" he roared back.

"Komari, believe me I don't want to see her die as well. But she needs to be prepared for what the galaxy has become."

"I'll train her the ways of the Force, she can defend herself and she will never have to take a life!"

"Taking a life is a matter of choice, that's life. But if you destroy that crystal then you'll crush her spirit, she'll never be the same . . ."

"If it means that she will lead a new way of life never having to fear about killing, then so be it" Cain mutters just before he begins crushing the crystal within his hand.

In a sudden jolt of speed James lunges at the Jedi tackling him hard to the ground and forcing him to let go of the crystal, Cain retaliated by shooting up his right fist that collided with the SPARTAN's helmet causing him to coil back and back away allowing Komari to stand to and ready himself. He draws from his experience with his adversary back on Dantooine, realizing the soldier can take a lot of punishment and deal just as much in a single blow therefore avoiding retaliatory attacks is a priority.

James threw his arms up in his boxer stance and begun to carefully etch closer and closer towards the Jedi who stood his ground patiently waiting for the SPARTAN to strike without warning.

Then as he expected, the soldier breaks out into a sprint with such speed and cocks his right arm back before launching it towards the Cerean's head but the Jedi swiftly ducks below the fist allowing James to pass by him. But in response Longarm threw his left arm back to catch Cain from behind but the Jedi ducks again and delivers a rapid blow to the SPARTAN's side. The punch didn't faze the super soldier much and to counter this he throws a swift right hook towards the Jedi who then deflects it with a blow from his arm, using the Force to augment his physical capabilities to give himself a better chance against the superior soldier.

With a sudden burst of power Komari was able to push the seven foot armored giant away several meters, sending James sliding back with his feet scraping against the metallic flooring, and readies himself for another round. Longarm had to admit that for a blind man Cain was able to hold his own fairly well especially against a commando of his caliber.

It was then when the two heard the voice of Bonteri speaking through the intercom system, and to the entire galaxy as a whole "_Citizens of the galaxy, to all who can hear my voice I bring a message. The Empire isn't what they claim to be, they're not heroes, keepers of order, or righteous bringers of justice_. _Our once faithful knights of the Republic has become nothing more than mindless enforcers of a tyrannical dictator._"

James' moment of listening was over when he focused his attention back onto Komari who was suddenly feet from him with his right fist flying in a low hook that slammed into his abdomen. The blow had little effect on the SPARTAN, only a short grunt was heard as he took a couple of steps back, and almost instantly he grabs the Cerean by his arm, threw him over his shoulder slamming the Jedi's back against the floor, and quickly follow up with a swift fist that came barreling towards Cain. However Komari quickly rolls out of the way letting the soldier's hand crash into the floor paneling, leaving a fist-size dent in the floor, and swiftly swung his boot up where it smashes into the SPARTAN's visor causing him to stagger further.

_"__-But this doesn't mean that we have to live under their rule afraid, unable to stand up for ourselves or others."_

Komari quickly scrambled back up to his feet and deflects another incoming right-handed blow from James with a smooth palm thrust, however the SPARTAN expertly responded to this by sweeping his left foot underneath the Jedi and catch him by surprise when he began to topple. When Cain fell onto his back he reached out with his hands and as Longarm prepared to finish this scuffle with one final strike a surge of electrical power shot out from the Jedi's finger tips, engulfing the soldier in a storm of lightning. The SPARTAN's shields quickly overloaded and shattered leaving the titanium alloy and bodysuit to receive the brunt of Cain's Force attack but the newly found sheer intensity made the soldier cry out in pain as Komari slowly gained the upper hand, steadily standing back up while his adversary crumpled to his knees.

_"__-If we can stand together then we can stop this new era of fear before it can get any worse. We can reclaim what was lost to us during the Clone Wars and we can return to a peaceful freedom once again."_

Cain ceases his electrocution and looks down at the soldier who sat on his knees trying to recover from the attack "You may have your little rebellion, but I'll be damned if I willingly allow you to steer Cila towards her own end."

James slowly got up on one foot and responded with exhaustion heard in his voice "I care for her as much as you do . . . you have to see the reasons why I'm doing this . . ."

The Cerean then reached out with the Force and retrieved the crystal from the floor "The sad truth is I do, but it does not mean we have to kill for our own freedom."

The crystal then gently fell into his hands "We can show them that we are better than murderers and tyrants. But only if we sacrifice that primal instinct that drives us to kill. Surely you can see reason in that . . ."

Longarm then looks up into Cain's face, the bandages around his eyes seemed aged and worn out from use, "I do . . . I understand the reason to become better than something. But we are already better than them, not just by skill or combat prowess, but because we're willing to do what the Empire won't for its people- to defend them and help them maintain hope for a better future."

Within a blinding second, the super soldier clenches his right fist and sends it rocketing into the Jedi's stomach. Cain was shocked with pain and the sudden abandonment of oxygen as it left his body due to the force of the blow he had just received. He gasped for what air he could get but in the sense of anguish he felt the SPARTAN's gloved hand engulf his own and deprived them of the crystal he had planned to destroy.

"But sometimes we have to send a clear message that we won't go quietly into the dark."

James lets go of Komari who then fell to his hands and knees with one hand clenched over his stomach as saliva dripped out of his mouth, he felt the urge to vomit but he fought it trying to keep himself composed. On that note the soldier begins to leave only to be met with a squad of reactivated B1 battle droids and a pair of the heavier B2s that were arriving on scene after hearing the disturbance from close by.

One droid marked with red stripes put its hand up to stop the super soldier and asks "Halt, what's going on here?"

Longarm then made his report "This man was caught with stolen property, I handled the matter personally and apprehended him in the process. I request that he'd be taken to the brig for further questioning."

The droids glanced at one another then the sergeant acknowledged "Roger Roger" and turns to two others "Take him to the brig."

"Roger Roger" the others obliged before they marched over and grasped Cain's arms within their metallic hands.

But as they began to carry him away, Komari warns the SPARTAN with a cough "This is a grave mistake . . . I swear on this."

James only had one response to this "Only time will tell . . ." before the droids began to carry him off with no struggle or another word.

_"__It's only a matter of time before the Empire bears down on our lives with fear, we of the first rebels will not stand for this. Sadly there will be loss, but this is when we don't lose our hope- this is when we. Fight. Back!"_

[Command Bridge]

"And that should do it. The message was received well throughout the galaxy with the most Imperial resistance coming from the core worlds- but it got through nonetheless, and it won't be till long before we begin to see reports of uprisings. I have to say that was quite a speech Senator" Percival remarks as he ensures the last of their transmission was encrypted to ensure the location of the Vanguard was kept hidden from the Empire.

"Do you think it'll work?" Bonteri wondered as he shared glances with everyone around him.

"It will" Ahsoka reassured him with her soft tone.

Jorge however asks the AI "You think the Empire will be able to track the transmission back to here?"

"Not likely, they had to have someone either very resourceful or damn smart enough to break my encryptions. The better question is what is our next move?"

Everyone fell silent, looking to one another for an answer but none could bring a worthy idea to the table.

052 eventually suggests "I suppose we go back about our business until something comes up."

Tano concurred "There's nothing else to do, now would be a good time to start fixing that Delta-7 in the hangar."

"I'll come help you" Lux offered.

But lastly Cila stood silently watching as Ahsoka and Lux began to leave, they were quickly stopped when the hatch opened in front of them revealing James who had just stepped off the lift. They soon noticed the scorched markings on his armor that was done all too recently.

Tano immediately stops and at the sight of the SPARTAN's armor she had to ask "James what happened!?"

But Longarm gave no answer, instead he steps past her towards Cila and kneels down before the Pantoran before he extends his right hand and reveals her lost crystal to her.

Her eyes quickly opened wide and she quickly took the crystal in her hand "You found it!" she then looks into his gold visor "I can't believe you found it!"

"You're welcome" he calmly answered before he stood back up to see everyone staring at him.

Ahsoka asked again "James, what happened?"

Longarm felt it was unnecessary to mention Cain in the disappearance of the crystal, especially in front of Bayu who expects highly of him, and decides to put that off "We'll discuss that later . . . for now let's just get back to business."

Tano looked to Lux and Jorge, neither had the slightest clue of what transpired, but Percival's expression was stern and displeased, it was certainly a question for another day.

[Meanwhile, Imperial Palace Throne Room, Coruscant]

_"__Sadly there will be loss, but that is when we don't lose our hope- this is when we. Fight. Back!"_ a echoing tone roared defiantly, the voice was altered to the point where no known vocal analyzer could decipher the identity of said voice but clear enough for any ear to hear.

In his black throne chair, the new Emperor Palpatine sat silently and displeased with what he had just heard as he stared at a hologram of a crest featuring an eagle holding a banner over a planet. In the distance he could hear the clacking of boots marching towards him and soon enough he sees two imperial officers step into the dull light that shone from above in the vastly dark chamber.

The first of two spoke "You're excellency . . . we regret to inform you that we are unable to track the transmission back to its origin."

Sidious spoke, his voice crackled which made the two men shiver involuntarily "Were you able to stop it?"

"Yes my lord but only to a degree-" the officer's voiced then choked.

By an unseen force, the silent imperial could see his colleague begin to suffocate, then the Emperor continued "I will not tolerate incompetence, Commander, pray your explanation will save your life."

Almost immediately the commander gasped for air that suddenly rushed into his lungs, he took in several deep breaths before he continues, now seeming hesitant to even speak, "We were able to stop the transmission from reaching Coruscant and the core worlds, but other systems from the Expansion Regions to the Outer Rim Territories were able to receive the message clearly."

There was a pause of silence, prompting the Sith Lord to ask "Is there more to your report?"

The Commander stuttered "It's too early to confirm anything but there hasn't been any response to the message indicating anyone taking up arms."

"If these insurgents are to continue spreading word of rebellion then everything I have promised will be ruined. See to it this does not happen again, I will not be so forgiving if you fail me again Commander . . ."

"Y-Yes your excellency, I will triple my efforts."

"See to it that you do . . ."

The two officers turned on their heels and hurried out of the chamber leaving the emperor to himself once again, staring at the crest with his foul yellow eyes. But it wasn't long till he heard the slow heavy mechanical breathing of another being, one he had hoped to speak to on this matter.

From his right he could see the dark-suited figure step up next to him, the breathing was ever so clear and dominated the silence, from the breathing a deep calm voice spoke, one filled with cold and unforgiving hate masked by the vocoder built into his dark durasteel helmet "You have need of me, my master?"

"I have my apprentice. Tell me, have you seen this icon from before?"

The figure studied the hologram and quickly recognized it "Yes, my Master. It is that of the _Vanguard _and the SPARTAN known as Longarm."

"And the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker?"

"Yes . . . it is them."

"Then this was to be inevitable, but this act of rebellion has started much sooner than I have expected. This nuisance will become a serious threat if we allow it to continue."

"This act will be their undoing . . . once we locate them, they will not get away."

"Yes . . . but I fear it may not be an easy task for our forces."

The apprentice knew what was about to happen "What will you have me do my master?"

Sidious almost cracked a grin upon his aged lips "Lord Vader . . . see to it that you will personally dispose of these traitors, all of them."

The newly reconstructed lord of the Sith, now clad in a jet black bodysuit featuring various armored components, cybernetic enhancements and Sith alchemy to enhance the performance of his broken body, a long dark cape made out of armorweave, and finally his skull-like helmet featuring his respirator, and soulless black eyes, Darth Vader silently bowed his helmeted head with pleasure in his heart "It will be done, my master."

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	41. First Response

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 41**

**"****First Response"**

[UNSC _Vanguard, _Command Deck, Three days later]

"Percival bring up grid coordinates G-5 by N-32, lay out topographical data and thermal enhance" James orders as he stood in front of the holotable.

"Gladly" the AI avatar responded.

Presented on the holotank was the planet Azloc-lll, still currently under Covenant occupation, or more specifically the unidentified structure they uncovered in the northern polar regions of the planet. As ordered a holographic layout of the mountainous terrain rises from the table along with a single CCS-Class Battlecruiser hanging low in the atmosphere, unaffected by the planet's harsh weather conditions, and nearly a couple thousand ground troops roaming around the structure that was currently built into the side of a massive plateau measuring roughly a kilometer in long and half a kilometer wide. All of this data was being provided by the slipspace probe Percival launched two days prior and is now currently in orbit over the planet.

"Shall I give you an update?" Percival chirped with a small grin.

"Of course" James answered, his voice sounded with exhaustion.

"Very well, over the course of the past twenty four hours two of the three cruisers that were present over the site departed for orbit to regroup with the rest of the fleet, leaving their ground troops to defend the structure of interest. Surveillance also suggests that pockets of heavy resistance are found all across the planet, possible imperial forces that survived the initial attacks, but as each hour progressed their numbers are dwindling. But focusing back on the structure, it appears the Covenant is attempting to gain access inside but something is denying them entry. What the most astonishing thing is that the structure itself is definitely Forerunner in origin- architectural design and energy signatures can confirm this."

"Forerunner? I should've guessed that's the only thing keeping them there. Anything else?"

"There are sightings of methane refineries and alloy mining sites popping up all across the surface; it appears the Covenant is making a more permanent stay here to acquire more resources- most likely to build more ships and equipment. But on another note, the Imperial Navy has dispatched another fleet to handle the situation- it's sad to say that this is their sixth attempt."

"What are their losses so far?"

"Sixteen Venators, five Acclamators, roughly twenty three escort ships, and countless numbers of fighters and troop transports."

"Time of arrival for the next fleet?"

"Three days, six hours, and forty two minutes."

"That seems a little precise."

The AI showed a small grin "Call it an educated guess."

James gave no remark to that, instead he asks "Bring up the orbiting fleet for a moment."

The grin faded from the officer's face and as ordered the holotable switched from the Forerunner installation to the Covenant fleet hanging in high orbit over the planet.

Percival continues "The fleet hasn't received any reinforcements thus far, but after running several simulations I can predict they will within the next week. Patrol patterns within the system is pretty thorough even by their standards, only a fast ship could probably get past them."

"Something we don't have, and the _Vanguard_ will be destroyed before we even come within weapons range."

"So our options are limited then . . ."

"What do we have?"

"Well" the officer thought "We could use the docked Gozanti to make a quick dropout of hyperspace over the planet, and then deploy a small team via escape pod to the surface."

James liked the idea, but he already saw the drawbacks, "The cruiser will need time to spool up for another jump, time which it doesn't have which means whoever is on it will be put at risk. Not to mention it will take away our ability to make faster jumps throughout the galaxy."

"Yes . . . there's that."

The two fell silent afterwards, pondering about viable options that wouldn't place one of their own in danger. Many ideas came to mind but they were eventually dismissed after realizing the risks each presented to them.

Until Percival began "We could-"

But before he could continue, the two heard the swish of the bulkhead hatch behind them prompting them to turn and find Ahsoka and Lux walking in with Jorge following up from behind.

The AI quickly greeted them as they came in "Ah Miss Tano, Senator Bonteri, and SPARTAN Jorge. Glad to have you here."

Tano and Bonteri gave a small grin to the British officer but Jorge merely responded with a subtle nod before he comes by the table and glances down at the holographic fleet "So, that's what we're up against?" he asked seemingly not surprised by it.

"Seems that way, but we don't know what they have in reserve" James answered "Imperial Navy has been getting kicked out every time they try to take the system back."

Both Ahsoka and Lux came to a stop at the table across from James and studied the fleet, each ship was highlighted and marked with a red icon that labeled the ships' class and other minor detail. Each ship was organic in design and looked as if they can cause a lot more damage then what the _Ardent Prayer_ was capable of. But despite the number of ships that was present they couldn't keep their eyes off the gargantuan three kilometer long ORS-Class Heavy Cruiser that sat in wait along with three CCS-Class Battlecruisers and two heavy corvettes in a loosely held formation and positions around the flagship.

"So is this the Covenant?" Bonteri wondered as he stared at the sleek warships.

"Yes Senator. These were the ones we have been at war with for over two decades" James answered "Driven by the belief of The Great Journey, they began to lay waste to humanity claiming that we are an affront to their gods."

"Gods?" the senator curiously asked.

Percival chimed in "An ancient civilization that existed long ago, they were simply known as the Forerunners. The very same 'gods' that managed to come to this galaxy as well it seems."

"Wait" Ahsoka spoke curtly "The Forerunners were here? How?"

"It's no mystery that the Forerunners have been at the pinnacle of technology and understanding of all fields of science, they still far surpass what the Covenant currently has. I suppose it doesn't surprise me that they managed to develop a means of making intergalactic expeditions and depending on how long ago they probably managed to fully explore and document this entire galaxy- leaving several installations along the way for various reasons."

"And I'm guessing there's one on Azloc?"

"There is."

Jorge then finally came in "So if we take the installation down on the surface, it might help us a long ways- maybe even show us a way home."

"One step at a time Jorge, we need to find a way through that fleet" the SPARTAN sniper reminded him.

"Any ideas?" Ahsoka wondered.

"No . . . Not yet."

Lux carefully studied the ships; the three patrolling corvettes in the outer reaches of the system were making routine patrols in their assigned zones- making them an easy target for any attacking fleet. But the main fleet itself was too heavily guarded with constant fighter patrols and surveillance making it near impossible for a ship of any size to get close.

He had to ask "What're they capable of?"

James then glanced towards the AI "Percival, bring up the last known engagement."

"Right away."

The hologram shifted and warred, the Covenant fleet still held the loose formation of ships before but they were over a different region of the planet. Soon enough five Venator-Class Star Destroyers, two Acclamator-Class Assault Ships, five Arquitens-Class Escort Cruisers, and three Consular-Class Cruisers totaling to fifteen ships.

"That's a big fleet, you don't see that very often" Tano notes.

As expected the imperials dropped in just within weapons range of the hostile fleet, deploying multiple fighters and bombers almost immediately after, and raised the shields. The Covenant held their positon but their Seraph fighters had suddenly moved to counter the enemy and the patrolling corvettes initiates a slipspace jump not too long after.

Almost immediately the two fleets began to open fire, volleys of turbolaser fire rained down upon the Covenant's shields with minimal effect while a single lance of pure white light from the flagship tore and sliced into a Venator. The V-Wing and ARC-170 starfighters engaged the Seraphs in quick and deadly dogfights throughout the field of space with no clear winner, but this allowed the imperial bomber wings to close in and launch a barrage of proton torpedoes onto a battlecruiser- bypassing the shields and damage the outer hull greatly. The Consular and Arquitens cruisers used their small size and agility to get in between the massive covenant vessels to commit point blank range attack runs, only damaging the shields minimally, but they were easily destroyed by a single plasma torpedo or lance from an energy projector.

"They're being slaughtered . . ." Bonteri comments in shock and awe.

Shortly after the Senator's comment, the three corvettes that had been patrolling the outer reaches now exited slipspace in flanking position and began their attack launching volleys of torpedoes at the Acclamators and Venators who were caught off guard. The imperial fleet was surrounded.

One after another a ship was violently torn apart by the Covenant's wrath, each ship suffering from coordinated fire from the cruisers. The clone fighters were now beginning to be overrun as each was shot down and destroyed, some fighters even began to flee the battlefield in hopes of surviving but they were effortlessly hunted down and killed. The last ship to stand was a lone Acclamator that was desperately trying to flee, but a single torpedo targeted the engines and crippled the vessel denying it its only chance to escape. The covenant then began to close in around the defenseless assault ship and dispatched boarding parties. The battle was over once the covenant abandoned the ship and initiated a remote detonation inside the ship's main reactor core, destroying her entirely.

The recording ends with James stating "We don't stand a chance against that fleet, let alone a single battlecruiser."

"So what are we going to do?" Ahsoka asked.

Everyone looked to each other, hoping to find an answer but there wasn't one; until Percival spoke "Well I suppose we will just have to do what we can right now. Ahsoka you can go down to the hangar and resume working on your fighter, I will give you any help I can offer. Jorge, you and Senator Bonteri can head out to the debris field and continue scavenging for materials we can use. And James, I believe Komari wishes to speak to you. Now we all have work to do, so let's get to it."

Everyone began to make their way off the bridge without another word, Bonteri and Tano taking the lead with Jorge and James following them out. The door seals themselves behind them and Percival has the bridge to himself once again.

[Forty two minutes later, debris field]

Floating out in open space, Lux and Jorge combed the debris field for any valuable salvage that can be used to further enhance or maintain the UNSC destroyer that lied out in the distance.

"So what are we exactly looking for anyways?" Bonteri asks into the comms unit in his EVA helmet.

"Droids, weapons, scrap metal, anything that could be worth something to us" the SPARTAN answered as he gently pushed aside a shard of metal.

"Oh . . . that should be easy enough . . ."

The two began to search a nearby wreckage; a Consular-Class Cruiser that had spilt in halves during the battle that took place here, Jorge was the first to enter through a breach in the hull with Lux following close behind. Once inside, the two magnetized their boots onto the floor and began to walk further inside.

"So what's your story?" Bonteri asked.

"What do you mean?" Jorge asked back as he walked.

"You know, where you were born, what it was like growing up. That sort of story."

"Oh . . ." the SPARTAN muttered "There's not much to talk about."

"Okay . . ."

"I was born on the fortress world called Reach, born and raised like any other child. People said I was a likeable boy back then."

"Ahsoka did say you were a bit of a soft guy."

The big man chuckled "Huh, did she now?"

"Yeah" Lux grinned a little "So how did you end up here with James?"

"I didn't exactly come with him the same way."

"What happened?"

"The Covenant" the soldier sighed "They found my home and they came in force, I was attached to Noble Team at the time and we did everything we could to fight them off. But everyone knew in the back of their minds that once those bastards found a world, they won't stop until they win. But that also gave us an opportunity to deliver a hard blow."

Lux was silent as he carefully listens "The Covenant had a super carrier in geosynchronous orbit over the planet and Kat, our second-in-command, had a plan to knock it out. It called for Six and I to get up there and deliver a makeshift slipspace bomb to the carrier for remote detonation, everything had gone smoothly until the bomb became damaged and needed to be detonated manually."

"You drew the short straw. . ."

"Not exactly, Reach was my home and it has been good to me. So I thought I should return the favor, so I stayed behind."

"And Six, what happened?"

"I gave Six a chance to keep fighting for humanity, I threw the lethal bastard out the hangar and that was the last time I ever saw someone I could call a friend. I detonated the bomb and after that, I ended up here as a prisoner. Until they found me."

"So you knew James before coming here right?"

"Yeah?"

"What was he like? Was he any different than he is now?"

"I suppose he has changed since the last time we met after the Battle of Meridian, he was a quiet man with a strong heart and steady aim. But as always he preferred to work alone to get the job done."

"The Battle of Meridian? What happened?"

"There's nothing special to tell, it was a human colony that was found by the Covenant and then glassed . . . just like everything else."

"What was your mission?"

"That's classified, but part of it involved knocking out a cruiser out of low orbit with a ground-based mass driver."

"Was there anything else?"

"Nothing that isn't classified. Where do you think the armory is?"

The question prompted the Senator to look around "On a Consular cruiser? I think I remember finding them on our cruisers in the Onderon Defense Navy, they should be located on the mid-deck near one of the weapon batteries."

Jorge luckily finds a directory mounted on the side of the corridor they stood in "Well it looks like we're on the mid-deck, let's go see if there's anything left for us."

The two ventured further through the corridors without a sound, nothing greeted them in the wrecked cruiser but they didn't seem to mind. They finally reached the armory with the hatch sealed tight, Lux stepped over to the security console that resided on the wall next to the door and tried to get the system back online.

But his efforts were to no avail "Well the power is out."

The SPARTAN grunts "Obviously" then turned towards the door and asks "How sealed you think that door is?"

"The doors have built-in maglocks, a magnetic pull that keeps them shut- but even without power the doors themselves are-"

Jorge digs his fingers into the crevice between the doors and with all his might he forced the hatch open, inadvertently breaking the internal locking mechanisms and jamming the doors tight within the frame of the doorway.

Lux then remarks "Forget I said anything . . ."

052 smirked under his helmet and stepped inside to see what was left of the armory, Bonteri follows him in.

Upon first glance there wasn't much to go by, they even found a clone body gently floating in the middle of the room donning a set of Phase l armor from the early days of the Clone Wars. Jorge gently pushes the body aside letting it float towards a wall and began to examine the weapons locker while Lux went for the racks. The soldier's search proved fruitless until he came across the third locker, finding two RPS-6 Rocket Launchers with a munitions crate full of APHE warheads, and a Z-6 Rotary Cannon with a smaller crate containing tibanna cartridges and power cells.

"Not bad" he muttered silently as he slung the two launchers around his shoulders and grab hold of the munition crates, intending to return later for the Z-6.

Bonteri managed to find a better yield of resources than the SPARTAN, finding a partially filled rack of DC-15A and DC-15S blasters along with several tibanna cartridges stored inside a small box. He slings three rifles around his shoulders and grabs hold of the box before he notices that Jorge had already left with his findings and went after him, the two came back and forth between the armory to the pelican dropship that waited outside, storing the weapons inside before moving on with the salvage operations.

During their search they had made their way

[Meanwhile, UNSC_Vanguard_, Hangar Bay]

"Percival, what's the readout on the systems?" Tano asked, lying underneath her Delta-7 replacing worn out components with the salvaged materials found from the debris field.

Currently standing on a portable pedestal with a small screen in front of him, the AI officer responded "Life support systems are online, weapons are functional, shields functional, all other systems are green across the board. I believe we have a fully functional Starfighter."

Ahsoka replaces one last integral component before she shuts the compartment and climbs out from underneath "Well we'll know when we get it started up."

She briefly cleans her grease covered hands with a dirty rag before she climbs into the cockpit and keys the ignition. In moments the fighter's HUD and monitors lit up and came to life, a subtle hum from the twin sublight engines signified that the fighter was ready for flight, and a readout on a side terminal suggests that everything has been restored to functioning status.

The togruta couldn't keep her excitement at bay "Finally" she grinned as she pressed several keys and switches.

"Shall we take it for a ride?" Percival asked, a proud smile was evident on his face.

Tano smiled with approval to which she seals the canopy tight while the AI began making preparations "Depressurizing main hangar bay, unlocking hangar doors."

As he did so, Tano felt right back at home as she brought the fighter's systems to optimal levels and prepares for takeoff.

"Depressurization complete, opening hangar bay doors."

The massive heavy doors slid open showing the emptiness of space ahead of them, the lights turned orange and blared loudly, the AI then turned to her "Miss Tano you are cleared for takeoff."

Ahsoka nods and begins to pilot the fighter, the craft slowly levitates from the floors, and in an instant the Delta-7 races out of the hangar at unprecedented speeds. Upon leaving the _Vanguard_ Tano begins to make a run for the debris field, intending to find Jorge and Lux in the midst of the wreckage. With the first line of debris approaching she expertly ducks and weaves through the field avoiding anything that may damage the fighter and soon enough she spots them.

Leaving a destroyed Consular-Class Cruiser, the SPARTAN and senator were making their way back to the pelican. In an effort to show off she redirects her course and makes her way towards the dropship at combat speeds, and in a mere instance she makes a rapid flyby dangerously close to the pelican and the two individuals.

Ahsoka could feel the exhilarating sensation of flying again, something she had longed for since the last time she flown. She was approaching the scattered remains of an Acclamator Assault Ship to where she banks hard left along the dorsal hull that was ravaged by cannon fire long ago. Once she passed the main engines she makes a roundabout and begins heading back to the destroyer awaiting for her return. However only then on her way back did she realized she hasn't tested the weapons or shields, having been caught up in the momentous renewal of her love for flight, and arms the cannons for operation.

She quickly spots her target, a splintered Munificent-Class Star Frigate rusting away over the years, before she changes course and moves in for an attack run. Once she aligns her sights on the frigate she presses down on the triggers sending blue concentrated, high velocity bolts of energized plasma streaming across the vacuum of space before impacting the durasteel hull and armor, effortlessly smashing and destroying a small but respectable portion of the warship.

"Weapons work just like brand new" she remarks as she looks upon the damage done before resuming her trek back to the _Vanguard_.

For a short moment she continued to fly pass the wreckage and debris until she finally broke out of the field with the destroyer in sight, just then Percival chimes in through the communications relay _"__Wonderful display you just made there, I take it the weapons are functioning properly?"_

"Yeah, but the only thing left is the shields. I need them to be ready before our first fight."

_"__How would you propose we test them? Fire a blaster at it?"_

"No . . . blasters aren't strong enough to penetrate shields, we need something bigger."

As she said those words her eyes rested upon the Halberd-Class Destroyer and noticed her eight dual-barreled point defense batteries, then came an idea "How powerful is one shot from the turrets?"

_"__A 50mm high explosive shell? One round could put a starfighter out of commission with a direct hit, why?"_

"Think it could do a number on the shields?"

Percival became eerily quiet for the moment but then he pleads _"__Please tell me you're not asking me to do what I think you want me to do."_

"Just one shell is all I need, plus it doesn't have to be a direct hit. Just close enough."

The AI gave a weary sigh _"__I strongly disapprove of this. But very well, bringing gun battery seven online, loading a single shell set with a proximity fuse for twelve feet. Make your way towards the dorsal hull."_

Ahsoka follows his direction and begins heading towards a place high above the destroyer, meanwhile the AI takes command of one of the M910 batteries and acquires a lock on Tano's Delta-7.

Once he has the proper lead and shell trajectory locked in he spoke _"__Firing._"

The shell exited the barrel with a muffled blast and begins screaming its way towards its target, Ahsoka braces herself for the incoming hit, and in mere moments the shell detonates just twelve feet from her ventral side. The blast itself rocked the starfighter immensely, Tano was nearly knocked to one side of her craft but she was able to recover just as it happened and hearing the warbling noise of one of her monitors displaying the shields to be standing at a waving twelve percent capacity.

_"__Ma'am? Are you alright?" _Percival asked wearily

"Shields held Percy" she responded calmly "Though next time I prefer the explosion to be farther away."

_"__Hopefully there won't be a next time"_ he answered_ "__Return to the Vanguard, there's still work to be done."_

"On my way."

[Sixteen minutes later, UNSC _Vanguard_, Detention block]

Cain sat silently in his holding cell, a reasonably sizeable windowless room large enough to fit a bed, toilet, table, and two chairs. During his time in detainment he had taken the opportunity to meditate and rest as he waited patiently for Longarm to arrive, a man who was probably taking his time for some unexplainable reason.

Of course he wasn't exactly alone, the AI Percival had been of some company for the Jedi whenever he needed to speak with someone, he asks "How much longer?"

There was a light chiming sound of a response and the AI answered "He's just about here, one more minute."

"Thank you."

Another minute passed as Percival estimated and with a swish of the door it slid open, letting in a figure he's been wanting to speak to. But as the man walked in, Komari noticed there were no heavy metallic footsteps signifying the presence of Mjolnir armor but rather a set of boots.

James, currently wearing black combat boots, black BDU pants and shirt, stood in front of the Jedi sitting at the table and asks in his usual calm tone "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes . . ." Cain answered.

Komari listened to the SPARTAN taking up the seat across from him and two light _'__pink'_ of glass being set on the metal table followed up with a larger _'__clunk'_ of a third. Then he could hear what sounded like a quark being pulled off of a bottle and finally the sound of something liquid being poured into the two glasses, his nose quickly caught the whiff of alcohol and something richer.

The Jedi was actually surprised "What is this? Smells like Lum or Corellian Brandy."

The soldier answered as he poured the bottle into the other cup "It's called Bourbon Whiskey, a recipe handed down by companies back on Earth before they stopped making them in the twenty fourth century. This bottle belonged to the captain of the _Vanguard_, before he died."

"Were you saving it for some momentous occasion?"

"No, I'm not much of a drinker, but this might help ease tension."

The Jedi hears the man place a shot glass in front of him to which he picks up and drinks, the burning feeling of alcohol and other ingredients brewed into the beverage was actually quite refreshing for the Cerean.

James loosely held his glass within his hand "I suppose you want to talk about Cila and the others?" he wonders.

Cain sets the glass down and answers "No actually, I want to talk about us."

The SPARTAN leans back in his chair "Us?"

"Well you and I" he explains with an open gesture "It's becoming apparent that we don't see eye to eye and we often argue over certain topics, such as the one regarding young Bayu's upbringing. Essentially I want us to understand where we are coming from as Jedi and SPARTAN."

"Fair enough . . ." James remarked.

"Then let's start with talking about you."

James shifted uncomfortably in his seat before he started "Where I come from, we have to fight to keep what is rightfully ours. When we made first contact with the Covenant and they began burning our worlds without justification, we had to fight back in order to survive as a species. Surely you can understand the hard decision of either facing extinction or having to resort to killing."

"It's a difficult decision I can imagine, but now that you are here how does it make you feel not being home fighting the war?"

"Honestly it's infuriating, but I try not to think about it because there's nothing I can do about it."

"Do you see this as a fresh start in life? Being here with us?"

The soldier took a moment to ponder "Yes . . . and new chance to fight for something worth it."

"You still continue to fight? May I ask why?"

"Because I believe we have a chance to make things right again."

"Through violence?"

"Master Yoda made me promise him that I will keep the surviving Jedi safe wherever I might find them, I've made it my duty to do what is necessary to keep it that way no matter who it is."

"Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the Jedi? Perhaps for Ahsoka, Cila, Lador, or possibly me?"

"If that's what it takes."

"Hmm . . ." Komari sat silently as he takes in what he has heard, then it was his turn "During my time as a youngling in the Jedi Temple, Master Yoda has always told us that while the lightsaber is our weapon and life we must not always use it to solve the problems of the galaxy but rather as a final resort. The Jedi were well known for their peaceful ways and contributions to the progression of the galaxy as a united people regardless of affiliation, race, or anything."

"Ahsoka told me about the things the Jedi has done before the war, they handled negotiations between warring factions and upheld peace in the galaxy."

The Jedi nods "Correct. But once the Clone Wars began, the Jedi slowly became more like generals and soldiers rather than peacekeepers and negotiators. Many claim that the only way to achieve peace is to subdue the Separatists and end the war swiftly- but so many have failed to realize there were other alternatives to ending the conflict."

He gestures for the SPARTAN to pour him another glass, which the commando obliges, and he continues "My old master, Garem Shay, had a unusual mindset for a member of the Jedi Order. He believed that the Sith was the only true way to achieve peace, because unlike the Republic and the Jedi, they knew how to successfully rule the galaxy without fear of rebellion."

"The Sith? Who're they?" James questioned.

"Force sensitives who practice in the dark ways of the Force, praising strength and power over other things. The Sith and the Jedi have been fierce rivals for millennia, and for a long time the darkness had remained hidden, until now."

The warrant officer thought for a moment then quickly remembered something Obi-Wan had said to him back at the temple, then he muttered "Anakin . . ."

Komari silently nodded "He has become one of the dark lords of the Sith . . . Have you told young Ahsoka?"

The SPARTAN's eyes saddened "No, I haven't. If I tell her it will destroy her emotionally, she'll be ruined" to which the Jedi acknowledges with another subtle nod accompanied by a small sigh.

James had never heard of the Sith until now, which also sparked interest within him, but Cain goes on "But back to the topic on hand, I slew my old master in fright which was the only time I took a life. We've all been there before, when we had to do what needed to be done, you probably didn't blink during your first time but for me . . . I needed time to adjust and understand what I had done."

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't be, my master knew what he had brought upon himself. But from that moment onwards I dedicated my life to ensure peace is maintained without the use of a blade. If I were to kill again, I would be back right where I started and I fear I may never come back from that path."

". . . I understand"

The two fell silently, now understanding one another more than ever. James, who is a soldier at heart and is obligated to uphold a duty and promise to those he swore to protect no matter the cost. Cain, who has a sense for a better purpose for himself and the fear of losing that purpose should he be vengeful.

The SPARTAN-ll looks down at his shot glass, having not yet drink the whiskey inside, and sets it aside with a defeated sigh before he began to stand "I'll make arrangements for your release" he stated and begun to leave.

Komari nodded in silence, but before the warrant officer could open the door he stops himself and adds "You can keep the bottle" to which the Jedi responded with a small grin.

Then a voice echoed from the intercom "SPARTAN James I need you on the bridge immediately" it was Percival and it sounded urgent.

"What's happening?" he answered with the same sense of urgency.

"Someone is contacting us . . ."

The soldier stopped, he wasn't sure if Percival was speaking the truth or if his ears are deceiving him, but when he looked back at Komari even he knew something wasn't right "Nobody has done that before right?" he wondered.

"Until now. Percival I want everyone on the bridge ASAP, recall Jorge and Senator Bonteri back to the ship. I'm on my way."

"Yes Sir, SPARTAN-052 and Senator Bonteri are already on route to the _Vanguard_ as we speak, Ahsoka, Bayu, and Lador are already waiting for you."

Cain was steadily getting up to his feet "Let me come with you, this seems too important to miss out."

"Well then you better hurry" James retorts.

[Ten minutes later, Command Bridge]

SPARTAN James and Cain Komari finally stepped onto the bridge, Ahsoka, Jorge, Lux, Lador, and Cila were all standing around the central holotable waiting for the final two to arrive.

"What's going on" James asks as he came next to his fellow SPARTAN.

Percival's avatar was already present when he stated "Simply put; somebody with enough skills and resources have managed to trace our first transmission back to us, using a piggyback subroutine to jump from data hubs throughout the Holonet to find us. It would appear that somebody had already cracked my encryptions."

"Imperial?"

"No, the signal we're receiving isn't from any of the known territories held by the Empire. This one is originating from a planet in the Ryloth System along the Outer Rim."

"Ryloth?" Ahsoka questioned herself.

But Longarm dismisses the comment and orders "Put it through."

The AI nodded and in moments a holographic representation of a male humanoid figure materialized into view, the most notable feature the figure had were the two tentacle-like appendages hanging from the back of his heads signifying him as a Twi'lek.

Percival notes "Two-way connection confirmed."

James nods then asks the figure "This is the UNSC destroyer _Vanguard_ to unidentified personnel, identify yourself."

The man responded _"__Are you the ones who sent that transmission of rebellion against the Empire?"_

Everyone looked to one another, unsure whether to answer the question or not, but the commando answers "Yes, how did you get this frequency?"

_"__I have had some expert help with the communications, my name is Cham Syndulla leader of the Freedom Fighters of Ryloth. The clones have betrayed their Jedi general and are now taking over our homes, we need your help. Your words of rebellion has inspired my people to take up arms once again and fight the Empire for our home."_

A majority of the attendants seems hesitant, but Syndulla goes on _"__If you are the kind people I believe you to be then we need you in our darkest time. Our people are ill-trained but well equipped, I can understand if you are not willing to help out of the kindness of your hearts but perhaps we can offer you something in return for your assistance."_

Komari then gently sets his hand on the sniper's shoulder "You said you believe there is still a chance to make things right again. Do you stand by your word?"

James stood there silently for a moment, then he turns his attention back to the Twi'lek leader "Hang in there Syndulla, we're relocating to your location. I cannot give an exact ETA but we will arrive within the week, from there we can better assess the situation and provide aid."

_"__Thank you Vanguard . . . my people will be pleased to hear this. We will hold out as long as we can but you should hurry."_

"Acknowledge, we're setting course."

_"__Good, I look forward to meeting you in person."_

The hologram disperses into thousands of tiny fragments while Percival projects a navigational route to their destination "If we can avoid the major imperial systems, we'll arrive in five and a half days approximately."

"Then we better get moving" Tano remarks.

"Of course, course plotted in and FTL drives spinning up."

Longarm then addresses the group "Alright we still have work to do before we arrive, let's get to it."

Everyone acknowledged and started to make their way towards the hatch, Percival notes "I've registered this location on our map, if we ever need more materials we can always return here."

The soldier answers "Good, hopefully this Syndulla is what we need to get this rebellion started."

"I'm sure this Cham will be quite helpful indeed."

James soon begins to walk out as well, but before he left he asks ". . . Percival, send whatever you can find about the Sith to my personal terminal, I need to do some researching."

"Of course, I'll get right on it as soon as possible."

The destroyer slowly shifts its orientation onto the correct course away from the debris field, moments later a pitch black rift rips open in the fabric of space and the _Vanguard _moves to full speed into the void of slipspace with its new destination locked in. Cham Syndulla, and the people of Ryloth.

**Sorry for the wait everyone, things have been turning up lately and I needed to handle them before anything else. As always, leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


	42. The Azloc Findings Pt1

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 42**

**"****The Azloc Findings Pt.1"**

[Heavy cruiser _Harmonious Condemnation_, Azloc System, Three days later]

Shev 'Vadamee was resting in his command seat silently in what seemed to be a peaceful slumber, something he hasn't been able to get for nearly week until now. The task of maintaining control over a planet, handling constant attacks that was becoming something of a weekly basis, and overseeing the distribution of resources and allocating them back to the carrier _Long Night of Solace_ for further processing was tiresome and dull. The crew aboard the bridge did little to disturb him, silently attending to the various comms and coordination of the fleet and ground forces that continue to snuff out any and all pockets of clone resistance across the planet.

In his sleep 'Vadamee was back on Sangheilios in the Vadam Keep, he could see his clan thriving and prospering every day. The veteran swordsmen and their students sparing one on one in the keep courtyard with their wooden poles. And there was his wife, Lana, who has been faithful to him ever since they became married; she was his most trusted companion and friend.

He could see Lana standing beside him holding onto his right arm as she watched the distant sun slowly lower itself to the distant mountainous horizon.

_"__It is beautiful is it not?"_ she spoke, her native language was fluent and soothing to even the most belligerent of the Sangheili.

_"__It always has been Lana"_ he answered, his voice was calm and gentle.

_"__Perhaps more beautiful than me?"_ she asked playfully.

The husband chuckled under his breath _"__Never . . ."_

The two turned to each other and leaned their heads against the other's _"__I dare not ask for a million more stars to fill the sky if it means losing you"_ he reassured her.

_"__You will never have to worry Shev, in life or death, body or spirit; I will still be by your side no matter what."_

As she said those words they could hear the vibrating hum of a battlecruiser looming overhead about to take up position over the keep as it prepares to take on the soldiers bound to join or return to active duty within the Covenant military.

_"__The transport has arrived" _she spoke _"__Now the Covenant needs your service again"_ her expression now somewhat saddened.

But he wipes away her tears and stated _"__Do not cry for me Lana, less you wish for me to do the same. But I will return as I have done so before. Hopefully the war with the humans will end and we can be together once more."_

_"__The humans are certainly more tenacious if they had lasted this long."_

_"__Their tenacity and bravery has been duly noted and respected, but it is by the prophets' will that we extinguish them."_

_"__Perhaps . . . I wish there was a way we could all exist peacefully, maybe the humans are not what they appear to be."_

Shev considered those words carefully, his wife has always been awfully considerate for all those in the galaxy, especially the humans whom she felt had become victims of a wrongful accusation by the Covenant High Council.

_"__Maybe . . ."_

_"__Shev!" _a voice roared.

The two turned to see a crowd of Sangheili soldiers marching by and the commanding officer, Raku 'Kalomee, standing by _"__It is time 'Vadamee."_

Shev's facial expression depressed into a saddened state as he turns back to his wife and bows his head towards her _"__I do not wish to leave you again . . ."_

But in the end Lana whispered _"__There will be another time."_

'Vadamee broke away and took one final look at his wife, she seemed heartbroken but yet proud of her husband and tells him _"__Go . . ."_

Shev silently nods and lets go of her, now heading away to meet up with Raku. Then as if by cue the mob of soldiers began to recite their oath starting with the highest ranking member, an ultra, began:

_"__When we joined the Covenant we took an oath!"_

_"__According to our station! All without exception!"_

_"__On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons we swore to uphold the Covenant!"_

_"__Even to our dying breath!"_

_"__Those would break this oath are heretics, worthy of neither pity nor mercy!"_

_"__We shall grind them into dust!"_

_"__And continue our march to glorious salvation!"_

As Shev joined the others towards their walk to the staging area he stops for one last moment to see his wife standing where she was, alone but still proud, but then he gives one assuring nod that he will return to her as he has done so before. He then turns back and joined his brothers back into the war.

It has been six years since he last saw her . . .

"Shipmaster . . ." a voice spoke to him from beyond his sleep.

The special operations commander slowly woke, opening his eyes tiresomely before he looks up to see one of the bridge officers standing before him.

"Yes?" he asks.

"Forgive me for disturbing you Sire, but the humans have requested an audience with you. They claim it is important."

Annoyed by this, Shev gave a small sigh then states "Very well . . . send them in."

The major bowed his head "Of course Shipmaster" and walks off.

'Vadamee sat up in his seat and took a quick glance around the bridge until he noticed something wet upon his right hand that he had rested his head upon. He looks down to find a single tear drop resting on his hand and thus he thought about the dream, then his wife who believes he's dead, it was something that he has been trying to not think about but in the end he has been hiding a wound that can't be healed. He eventually hears the door hatch behind him chime and open, prompting him to rub the tear away with his thumb.

To his left he spots Admiral Gran being escorted by two Sangheili minors armed with Type-51 Carbines just before stopping in front of the shipmaster.

The human then began with pleasantries "I hope I wasn't disturbing you in the middle of something."

"You should understand the role of fleet commander, it can be a tiresome thing."

"Something we have in common then."

One of the guards behind hissed "You dare compare yourself to the shipmaster?"

But Shev restrained the agitated Sangheili "He is not wrong 'Surok, please leave us. You are needed elsewhere."

The two guards acknowledged 'Vadamee's orders and leaves Gran alone with him, the bridge crew made no comment of this and continued their work in silence.

"You wish to speak with me . . ." the shipmaster stated.

"Yes, in fact I have a few questions if you don't mind."

"It all depends on those questions."

"Very well then I'll start with this; this Great Journey . . . what is it?"

In response Shev stood up from his seat, setting his eight foot high dominance over the five and a half foot human "That is something you humans continue to ask . . ."

The admiral smirked and gestured with open hands "I only asked once."

The elite shoots a short snort and then sneered "Your sense of humor are all the same, but I will oblige your curiosity. Walk with me."

Gran gestured his hand for the shipmaster to take the first step allowing him to make his way towards a central podium that overlooked the pits filled with men and consoles, nobody paid him any attention, and Gran eventually came to his side.

'Vadamee began "The Great Journey . . . it is something that unites us all under the banner of The Holy Covenant. The belief that beings have once existed long ago until they ascended into godhood, we seek salvation from a doomed existence and stand alongside those who have achieved such."

"And your aggression towards our kind specifically? Why?"

"It is the will of our Hierarchs that your insignificant species be erased from existence, a pest that has longed to be rid of. Yet your kind has shown persistence and stubbornness to silently fade into the dark. You will sacrifice yourselves and destroy the places you once called home to impede our advance through your worlds, a viable tactic I will admit but foolish and pointless in the end."

"You simply act on the hierarchs' whim? With no purpose or proof that humans are as dangerous as they say?"

Then immediately without warning a bridge officer barks "Shipmaster! We have incoming vessels appearing outside weapons range!"

'Vadamee's mind quickly went into action "What is the total?" he asks with calm.

"We count fifty six human attack cruisers along with a high number of escort ships, they are coming into formation!"

The holographic projector began to display the approaching fleet that just dropped out of hyperspace well outside of the Covenant's field of fire, an impressive one hundred and forty seven thousand kilometers away, and held its position. Ten Venator-Class Star Destroyers, accompanied by six Acclamator Assualt Ships, held a tight-knit formation forming a horseshoe-shaped line with the Acclamators being protected within. The other forty vessels formed four different staggered line formations with ten Venator in each line, the first wave was ahead by three kilometers with the second wave and horseshoe line hanging back. The remaining escorts, consisting of Consular, Gozanti, and Arquitens-Class gunships, were scattered out around the capital ships in pairs acting as a first defense for the fleet.

Shev studied the fleet carefully as he gave his order "Recall our corvettes from their patrols, prepare for flanking maneuvers on my command."

"As you wish Shipmaster!" a crewman acknowledges.

The commander then mutters to himself "Seems our information was off by a wide margin . . . I was expecting something smaller."

Gran then informs him "That's half of the entire Sector Fleet, they have you outnumbered five to one."

"It would seem that way. Certainly the most daring challenge yet, but while they lie safely outside our range they're still foolish to attempt a long range duel."

"Perhaps, maybe they learned from their past mistakes."

"I pray upon it, it would not be so dull."

"Sire!" a Sangheili operator roars "Three more ships have entered the field! Unknown classification!"

As he said those words three more vessels dropped out of hyperspace just several kilometers behind the main fleet, two of the ships were of unseen design, dagger-shaped, nearly a mile long, more rigid exterior hull than the Venator bristling with heavy turbolaser and ion cannon batteries, and a centralized massive bridge tower sitting on top of the ship's 'neck' where it was then situated on the dorsal superstructure which was shaped somewhat like a pyramid, flanking said pyramid were two sets of four heavy turbolaser batteries, each turret held six individual cannons, and above the tower itself were two massive globe-like domes that served a purpose not yet known by Shev or his men.

The third and final ship that arrived was much different. Eight thousand meters long, dagger-shaped hull with a large humpback protrusion running along the vessel's ventral spine, massive enough to hold what looked like a city along the dorsal hull and a small centralized command tower resting comfortably within its protective field of shields and point-defenses, bristling with heavy weapon batteries and missile launchers, it dwarfed in the ORS heavy cruiser severely.

Shev was arguably surprised by the size of the ship, but nonetheless he showed little emotion to note. However on the other hand Gran was shocked he felt a sense of fear but mixed in with hope, he never imagined he would be on the receiving end of such a warship but he felt the Empire may finally have a chance to beat this Covenant.

"You seem a bit overjoyed Admiral . . ." 'Vadamee notices.

"That is a Mandator-ll Class Star Dreadnought, one of the most powerful classes ever developed during the Clone Wars. You may be hard-pressed to defeat a ship of that size alone."

"And its two escorts?"

"Imperator-Class . . . though a new powerful warship, they have yet been able to replace the standard cruisers."

The Sangheili then grunts "Very well then, a challenge at last."

"Sire! The enemy fleet is holding position outside weapons range, they are deploying fighters as we speak!" a sensor operator barks.

"Deploy our squadrons in defensive formations around our cruisers and raise the shields."

"Right away."

'Vadamee's eyes remained locked on the standing fleet "They would have attempted to contact us by now . . ."

"It would seem the Empire is through talking" Gran adds.

"So it would seem."

[Mandator Dreadnought _Assertor_, Command Bridge]

"Admiral Res, all ships have been accounted for and awaiting your orders" a clone officer reports as he stood next to his commanding officer who carefully studied the defending fleet, and the floating debris fields of Imperial warships that have failed their mission in the past.

"Thank you Chad, what is the status of the enemy fleet?"

"Eleven confirmed hostile ships are holding position in geosynchronous orbit over the planet, they're deploying fighters and setting them in defensive patterns around their cruisers. It doesn't seem they are going to attack."

"No they want us to come to them" Res remarked "And be quickly torn apart by their weapons at range . . . Very well then."

"Sir?" the clone asked befuddled.

"We'll come to them. Close the gap and engage them at close range."

"But Sir you said it yourself, we'll be walking into a meat grinder."

"Perhaps" the Admiral thought just before he gives his command "Get me the flight commanders, I have a high priority task for them."

"Yes Sir" the clone salutes before marching off the bridge.

However in moments another officer appeared, this one seemed somewhat concerned, and gave a stern salute before stating "Admiral, Emperor Palpatine requests your presence in the war room."

Res glanced at the officer, no evidence on the man's face indicated this was a hoax, then he sighed "I expected this. Carry on then."

The clone made no gesture as he watched the admiral move past him, making his way towards the war room that was situated just behind the control bridge through a pair of bulkhead doors. A short walk afterwards he passes through the hatches and steps into the war room where clone tacticians and crewmen went about their business.

He then came before the central holotable, gave his grey uniform a quick brush with his hands, and commands "Clear the bridge."

The men briefly glanced towards one another before they complied with their commander's orders and proceeded to exit the room in silence.

As soon as the last soul left, Res extends his hand out and presses a switch on the main console, in response the room's overhead lights dimmed and shortly after a blue holographic hooded figure built itself from the ground up. Res could feel the coldness surrounding him as the presence of his true emperor who looks down upon him with steady calm eyes.

The admiral kneeled before the hologram and spoke "Your Excellency . . ."

_"__Have you arrived Admiral?"_ the Emperor asked, his voice was slow and showed signs of age.

"Yes my lord, the fleet is holding at a safe distance from the enemy. They haven't made a move against us yet."

_"__Then do not waste this opportunity, wipe out this filth and secure the site on the surface. If you fail, only you will be held responsible."_

Res stuttered "Y-yes my lord. But may I ask, what's down there?"

_"__A mystery we will all soon discover. I will observe your progress, Admiral, see to it the task is done."_

"Yes my Lord, we will engage them immediately."

The hologram slowly faded out of view and the room became lit once again, and as if by cue the original inhabitants of the station reentered and resumed their duties. Res could've sworn his heart stopped several times for a moment, but he kept his calm and began to focus at the task presented to him; wipe out the blockade and secure the planet for the Empire.

Without a second thought he presses a different switch, this time a view of the defending blockade appeared, the flagship lied deep within the small fleet of cruisers and support ships, each close enough to provide anti-fighter support for each other thus creating an efficient and deadly AA field network. Authorizing a close range bombing run or strafing maneuvers meant only death for the pilots who he deemed too precious to lose.

Previous encounters suggests that the enemy excelled at very long range engagements, effortlessly tearing through a fully shielded Venator-Class Star Destroyer in a manner of seconds, this would likely lead his entire fleet to utter destruction should he commence a full assault. His most concerning thought was possibly losing the _Assertor_ to enemy fire, or worse, enemy boarding action.

A clone officer steps up next to him, holding a PDA in his hand, and wonders "Sir, I hope you have a strategy for this."

The admiral continues examining the covenant fleet, his mind slowly accounted for every little detail about the situation, then he answered "I'm not so sure myself to be honest, but I think I have something in mind."

"Such as?"

Then by pure convenient timing six different life-sized figures appeared on the holotable, alongside the floating ships, each suited up in armored flight suits that distinguished them as pilots, the center pilot threw his right arm up into a salute _"__Sir, you called for us?"_

"Yes Tracer" the admiral answered "I'll be honest I have a high-risk priority task for you, if you're willing to volunteer."

_"__You can count on us Sir, what do you need done?"_

"I need you and your squadrons to make the run from here to the enemy fleet, distract their weapons and fighters, and buy us some time to get within weapons range to engage. Do not focus on engaging the enemy, speed and maneuverability."

The pilot grinned, as if crossing a one hundred thousand kilometer gap under heavy fire was one of his best attributes, _"__Of course Admiral, we'll keep 'em busy long enough for you to bring the fun."_

The officer standing next to him asked "What if the enemy open fires on our cruisers?"

"We can use the _Assertor_ as a shield for the rest of the fleet, I'm hoping the shields will last long enough but if not then we can still use our tonnage to our advantage. Once in range we can deploy the rest of our fighters and engage them. Meanwhile our transports can make way for the surface and commence ground operations with the _Triumphant_ providing fire support."

"Of course Sir, I'll notify the fleet of the strategy" the clone answered back just before he heads off to attend to his duties.

Res nodded and turned his attention back to the pilots "We all have a job to do now men, stay safe."

_"__We'll depart immediately"_ Tracer replied just before he disappeared from view, the other commanders following suit shortly after.

[_Assertor_, primary hangar bay]

_"__Gray Squadron prepare for launch. Gray Squadron prepare for launch"_ a voice boomed over the hangar's intercom system.

The dreadnought's ventral hangar bay was vibrant with life, men attended to various duties in regards to maintenance and weapons arming. The hangar itself heavily resembled that of the Venator's with multiple smaller hangars stretched out on the sides and a single vast runway running through the center. However the twenty four men of Gray Squadron hurriedly rushed to their fighters for launch, Gray was Admiral Res' most successful squadron as of yet only suffering minimal losses while inflicting heavy damage upon the Separatist Navy during the Clone Wars. Currently squadron leader was Tracer, renowned combat ace in his own rights, he only served during the latter half of the war but he used this small time to effectively improve and adapt his skills and strategy, becoming a formidable foe with a recorded two hundred and fifty eight confirmed kills.

The squadron leader was already doing one last check over his suit, his black bodysuit and ACU camouflaged plastoid armor was in good condition, the oxygen supply box on his upper chest was firmly set in place and the breathing tubes connected to his fully enclosed Phase-ll helmet were secured as well.

A clone technician walks up to the pilot and hands him a PDA after the latter had firmly fitted the helmet over his head "Everything checks out Tracer, you're good to go."

The squadron leader takes the device into his hands and goes over the details of his fighter, so far everything has pleased him and so he hands it back "Thanks Cam, I'll be sure to buy the first round for us."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Heh, I know you will."

"We'll see you when you get back" the technician finally said before he gave the pilot a quick salute and heads off to attend to his duties.

Once Cam was out of sight Tracer turns his eyes towards his personal fighter which laid a short distance from where he stood, a single Republic-Issued Z-95 Headhunter Starfighter retrofitted with a hyperdrive system to allow it to perform long-range missions and painted with the standard Imperial gray as per new regulations instead of the traditional Republic crimson stripes he had preferred. As he made his way over he could see the other men under his command climbing into their ships and prepare for launch, he wondered if they were anxious about facing this new enemy- one powerful enough to wipe out fleets in moments, or if they were as calm as ever believing this to be another simple battle. This was something he figured he will never know, even he didn't know how he felt himself, but it was something to take note of.

He reaches his starfighter and climbs up the boarding ramp where he then steps down into the single-seat cockpit and took his seat at the flight controls. He begins initiating the startup sequence with a flick of a switch and a push of a button, the Headhunter responded with a steady whir of systems coming online and its twin fusion drive engines coming to life with a roar. The main console in front of him lit up and began displaying the readouts for the ship itself, he started to check them off.

"Engines check, weapons check, avionics check, life support check, subroutines check. Green across the board."

He flips a switch causing the checklist to disappear with a targeting reticule and radar systems to take over, just in time for a voice to speak into his helmet's comms _"__All ships begin launch procedure, opening main hangar doors."_

He nods to that and grabs hold of the flight stick with his right hand and the throttle lever with his left, gently pushing up on the throttle the ship slowly lifted itself off of the floor and started to move forward. Another flick of a switch causes the landing gear to retract into the main body itself as he guides it out onto the central runway. Now moving along the runway towards the hangar entrance, the other members of Gray Squadron follow suit falling into line with their leader each in their own Z-95 Starfighter.

"Gray Leader to Assertor Actual, we're away" Tracer spoke as his ship left the hangar bay and into open space.

A voice over the comms gives a response _"__Acknowledged Gray Leader, proceed to the rendezvous at point five-seven."_

"Copy that, proceeding to the rendezvous at point five-seven."

The voice of the _Assertor _fell right after, leaving the hum of Tracer's engines to keep him company as he and his squadron flew out into open space roughly twenty five kilometers ahead of the fleet where the other five flight commanders will meet them.

Once they cleared the dreadnought, he begins a rollcall "Alright all wings check in."

Then one by one they answered _"__Breaker checking in."_

_"__Sai here."_

_"__Nephi standing by."_

_"__Vex ready."_

_"__Haro ready."_

_"__Fars checking in."_

_"__Gillie combat ready."_

_"__Dice here, all systems good to go."_

Eventually all pilots reported in, all twenty four ships in total, and without second thoughts they proceeded to the rendezvous point. The men eventually began to chat with one another to pass the time traveling to the rally.

Tracer started off with a request "Dice, you'll be my wingman right?"

_"__I got your back Tracer, don't you worry."_

_"__So Haywire, what're you gonna do after this mission?" _Nephi, Gray-3, asked.

The pilot in question, Haywire and Gray-14, replied jokingly _"__Oh me? I'm thinkin' about taking a shuttle back to Coruscant and get to know the ladies back at that cantina we were at the last time we were off duty."_

_"__You mean that Mirialan that kissed you on the cheek right?"_

In an instant the rest of the squad went into a frenzy starting with Crane, Gray-19, _"__Wait-wait-wait . . . you actually have a girl that's interested in you!?"_

Another clone bursts into laughter _"__I can't believe this! Hahahahaha!"_

_"__Hey-hey! Watch it! You almost crashed into me!" _another barks.

_"__I-I seriously cannot believe that Haywire has someone who's interested in him! Hahahahaha!"_

_"__Way to go Haywire, what's the lucky girl's name?" _Dice wondered, ignoring the pilot's constant laughter.

_"__Vesra, Vesra Tule."_

_"__Huh, that's a nice name."_

_"__Yeah, I made her a promise that when I come back we'll go out together and enjoy ourselves. I intend to keep that promise."_

_"__Good for you brother."_

Tracer couldn't help but feel proud for Haywire and the others, not only were they brothers to him but he was a sort of father figure for them, but the conversation came to an end when he orders "Alright everyone cut the chatter, we're closing on the rendezvous point. I'll go ahead and contact the others."

_"__Copy that"_ the others responded in chorus.

The flight leader switches the com-net channels with a flip of a switch and spoke "This Gray-1, we've made it to the rendezvous point, squadron leaders check in."

Almost immediately afterwards a response came back _"__Nomad-1, we're ready to go."_

Then another _"__Ravager-1, all ships green."_

And so forth _"__Hunter-1, ready."_

_"__Phantom, standing by."_

_"__Gunner-1, all ships present."_

"Alright, all ships stay in tight formation. We do this side by side, no one takes the lead, no one gets left behind."

_"__Roger that Gray-1"_ Nomad answers.

With the Imperial strike force assembled, one hundred and forty four fighter craft and bombers assembled, they now begin to cross the vast expanse of empty space towards the enemy fleet.

"Alright everyone, input the coordinates for micro-hyperspace jump. We're going to outflank them and engage."

Phantom however protests _"__I thought we were ordered not to engage."_

"We were told not to engage those cruisers, but we'll need to soften up their fighters before the fleet gets into range."

Ravager adds _"__That's a risky move, we won't have any support."_

"We've done this before, it won't be any different."

_"__Let's hope so."_

Then Nomad reports in _"__Coordinates set, we're ready to jump on your call Tracer."_

_"__We're good to go" _Gunner adds.

"Ok, initiate hyperspace jump on my mark. The moment we get in there we need to move fast."

_"__Roger!" _the other squadron leaders acknowledged.

"Alright, commence jump in three . . ."

All members of the strike force has calculated their jump vectors and steeled themselves for what is to come.

"Two . . ."

Few pilots closed their eyes and made one last thought to themselves, now prepared to die for their brothers and their mission.

"One . . . Mark!"

With a sudden push of the throttle, all ships spooled up their engines and launched themselves into hyperspace. For the briefest second the strike force traveled across the immense gap before finally dropping out right in front of the covenant warships, the lead CCS-Class Battlecruiser now only a few hundred meters away.

"GO! GO! GO!" Tracer roared, throttling his engines to maximum.

In unison the imperial fighters breaks off into their respected squadrons and immediately zips past the frontline warships penetrating deeper into the fleet. Almost instantaneously however, the flights of Seraph Starfighters and Banshee interceptors guarding the capital vessels quickly responded with blistering plasma cannons and homing fuel rod canisters.

Within seconds after dropping out, the channel was flooded with voices _"__Enemy fighters at point three-five!"_

_"__I see 'em!"_

_"__Hash watch it! You got one on your tail!"_

_"__I know! I know!"_

_"__Watch that cruiser Hunter-5!"_

_"__Argh! I'm hit! I need backup here!"_

_"__Got one of those little bastards!"_

_"__These guys move fast!"_

_"__I can't get past their shields!"_

At this point Tracer, with Dice close behind, was pursuing a Seraph that had broken off from the skirmish. Attempting to use a CCS for cover, the covenant fighter makes a quick dash underneath the ventral mid-section before banking hard up in an effort to elude the clone pursuers. But the two clones were right on its tail, effortlessly making the same maneuver and catch the fighter within weapons lock.

"Engaging!" the ace barked.

He pulls back on the trigger firing his dual-linked blaster cannons and sending blue bolts of plasma downrange onto target who shrugged off the first few blasts with its shielding but began to take hits to its hull. But it was quickly discovered to be much more resilient to blaster fire than they initially thought, able to take more than its fair share of punishment.

"Dammit!" he cursed "These guys got tough armor!"

Dice however had a solution _"__Clear the way Tracer, I got 'em!_"

As requested Tracer breaks off allowing Dice to engage and send off two proton torpedoes from his Headhunter fighter, the projectiles raced towards their targets shortly before the first made contact with the Seraph's starboard side sending it careening out of control only for the second torpedo to slam into its center and destroy it outright.

_"__That done it!" _Dice remarked victoriously.

This revelation quickly brought Tracer to advise the others "Alright everyone, use your cannons to take out those fighters' shields then hit them with your torpedoes!"

_"__On it!"_

Imperial and Covenant fighter craft continue to race pass the much larger cruisers, though it was until now that Tracer noticed that there was no anti-air fire coming from the capital ships. As he tailed a pair of banshee interceptors, he began to wonder what the Covenant still had planned for them.

[_Harmonious Condemnation_]

'Vadamee and Gran watched the fighters fly past firing bursts of bolts at one another, the imperials attempting to use their upmost speed and maneuverability to match the Covenant in combat, the shipmaster was impressed however.

"You do realize you can just destroy them with concentrated fire from the cruisers" Gran notes.

Shev considered the thought "I understand you desire to spare them this last pointless battle, but I prefer to grant them a fair challenge before they die."

The admiral sighed wearily "Very well, there is nothing I could do that will change what is to come."

"You may be surprised . . ."

"Shipmaster!" an Unggoy crewman yelps "We're beginning to lose ships! Call for help yes?"

"No . . . we must not distract ourselves with these pests, our primary focus is the enemy fleet that lies outside our range."

However only moments after that statement the Mandator Dreadnought takes a short leap through hyperspace, using the same tactic as the fighters, and instantly came within several kilometers of the fleet. Not long after, the first wave of twenty Venator-Class Star Destroyers followed the dreadnought in the same manner and quickly took up defensive positions. In a manner of moments the imperial fleet open fires upon the Covenant, sending volleys of turbolaser fire slamming into the shields of the superior vessels.

'Vadamee and Gran felt the floor shake beneath them as the ORS-Class Heavy Cruiser began to take fire from coordinated fire from the dreadnought and several cruisers, he quickly demands but in calm "Status."

"Shields are holding but this will not last very long" an officer reports "But our cruisers are reporting they are taking immense fire."

"Send word for reinforcements, we will require the aid."

"Yes Sire."

Another bridge officer barks "Shipmaster! Our cruisers are waiting for orders!"

Without a moment of hesitation Shev looks down to his right arms rest and presses a small button, this allowed him to access the fleet-wide battlenet, and sends his commands "All cruisers fire at will. Send this filth back into the void."

A response quickly returned _"__This is the Fervent Traveler, we are engaging."_

_"__Servant Divine, engaging."_

_"__Abiding truth, weapons free."_

Upon acknowledgment of their new order, the Covenant fleet returns fire with immensely powerful bursts from their energy projectors and volleys of devastating plasma torpedoes. The Imperial fleet at this point had already unleashed its swarm of fighters that now blanketed the realm of space along with covenant fighters and heavy anti-air flak from both sides.

Minutes after the initial engagement, the first Venator is quickly struck down after receiving two subsequent hits from a battlecruiser's energy projector that had ripped through the shields and sliced into the destroyer's main reactor core, resulting the ship to be engulfed in a bright light that shined like a star. Two Venators meanwhile engaged a single battlecruiser using combined fire and coordinated attack runs, the CCS's shields eventually fell and its hardened nanolaminate hull became exposed to heavy laser fire and proton torpedoes. In exchange, a flight of Seraph fighters managed to slip through one of the attacking destroyer's point AA defenses and creates a swift and destructive bombing run across the cruiser's port heavy gun turrets, destroying two of the four DBY-827 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries and heavily damaging a third.

An SDV-Class Corvette quickly falls to heavy concentrated fire but not before wiping out an unfortunate Consular Gunship with a single pulse from its plasma emitter and annihilating an Arquitens assault ship with a single torpedo. Starfighters of different models continued to race one another in vicious dogfights with both sides suffering severely for it, those who were not engaged began to make runs on the capital vessels themselves. Y-wing bombers make fast and heavy bombing runs across the Covenant's gun batteries and outer hull, Seraph and Banshee fighters continue to target critical and vital weapon banks and command bridges.

Aboard the _Condemnation_, Shev wasn't overall impressed by the tactic the Empire used. Though close range combat gave them a better chance to succeed it was even more dangerous now that the Covenant were able to utilize most of their close range weaponry. Effective but not impressive.

The shipmaster stands up from his seat and steps up to his standing post in the center of the command bridge "If the humans wish to duel us at close range, we will oblige them. Command to all ships; advance!"

As ordered, the Covenant battlecruisers and corvettes slowly ignited their repulsor engines and began to advance into the imperial fleet. Now engaged at point blank range, the fleets become locked in a grueling brawl of power as each side pummel and slice each other with heavy battery fire and precise lances of light. The close proximity of each ship left the small nimble fighters little to no room to safely maneuver as the capitals now begin to utilize their close range point-defenses and pulse laser weapons to maul one another in a vicious display.

"Sire!" a Sangheili officer shouts "The human transports are beginning their descent towards the planetary surface!"

Shev's eyes quickly locked on the two Acclamators, accompanied by a single Venator, make haste for the planet's atmosphere. He expected this of the Empire and had already prepared a response for this.

"Prepare to fire on those transports, deny them passage to the surface" he commands.

But the combat operations officer argues "We cannot acquire a clear target Sire, our ships have become too close with the enemy and we dare not fire less we kill our brothers."

'Vadamee frowned and growled lowly "Rrgh, very well . . . warn our troops on the surface of what is coming" he then turns to another Sangheili "Prepare our troops for immediate departure. I am transferring my command over to 'Morsati, he will lead in my stead."

Afterwards he turns on his heels and begins to walk off the bridge, but before he leave Gran stops him "Where are you going?"

The Sangheili warrior stops and answers "I am going down there to secure the site, you and your men will come with me."

The now baffled Admiral protested "But surely you're joking, you want my men and I to acc-"

"But I am not. I will release your men and arm them appropriately, they will either aid me or perish. Your decision Admiral."

Gran found himself in a tough position, either help 'Vadamee and the Covenant to save himself and his men or be forced to watch his people die before he too follows suit. He expected this would eventually happen to him and he would have chosen to sacrifice himself for the greater cause, but at the stake of his men's lives he swore to protect, he couldn't decide their fate like this.

He couldn't fight it, so he gives a grave sigh "Very well . . . I'll go speak with the men. . ."

"Good" 'Vadamee answered "Let us be on our way."

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	43. The Azloc Findings Pt2

**Vanguard **

**Chapter 43**

**"****The Azloc Findings Pt. 2"**

[Orbit over Azloc lll]

_"__Tracer . . . Tracer!"_ a voice beckoned over the comms net.

The clone ace pilot in question was in a semi-conscious trans like state of mind, the world before him had slowed down to a fraction of a second. To his left, he could see a Covenant CCS-Class Battlecruiser take on a barrage of blue heavy turbolaser fire from a nearby Venator, its shields held strong against the attack, while it returned the favor with a single lance from its bow energy projector. To his right, he found Dice flying alongside him, the blaster cannons of his Headhunter Starfighter blistered away at the enemy ahead of him. And finally in front of him was a Banshee interceptor closing in with its twin plasma repeaters firing away, each bolt either zips pass harmlessly or find their mark on his craft. Quickly enough a single blast from Dice impacted the alien craft and destroys it entirely in a ball of blue fire and metallic fragments.

Time catching up to Tracer, his perception of reality quickly speeds back up to normalcy with his wingman stating _"__Tracer! Can't have you freezing up brother, snap out of it!"_

The ace briefly shakes his head before coming back to the situation "Agh sorry . . . I don't know what happened."

_"__Think you got a little too close to the enemy cruiser, flak shook you up."_

"Eh maybe" he sighed "I'm a little cooked but let's keep doing our job for now."

_"__Right, Hammerhead Squadron is preparing to make a run for one of the capital ships, they're requesting fighter cover."_

"Alright let's get over there and help."

_"__I'll follow you're lead."_

[_Arrestor_, Command Bridge]

The floor rumbled lightly beneath Res' feet as the conflict progressed with the Empire sustaining a steady amount of losses though it was unfavorable compared to the three ships the enemy had lost to heavy fire. Despite this he was thoroughly impressed by the sheer cutting technological edge the Covenant possessed over them, able to cut down a single fully shielded Venator-Class Star Destroyer in a single sweep. But even so they were not without flaws, Res had already acknowledged the fact that the enemy must lower their shields along a specific portion of their shields to fire any of its weapons, quick-reacting bombers and gun batteries would be able to send out several strikes against the attacking ship and damage the weapon without having to try and break through the shields.

"Sir! We've lost the _Belfast_ and _Revelation_, our port flank is losing ground!" a clone officer reports from the lower pits.

"Reinforce them with the _Nobility_, and bring in our Imperator classes" he answered calmly as he stared out into the raging war.

"Right away Sir!"

The clone then attends to one of the communication consoles, put on a headset, and then acquired the specific frequency the Imperial fleet works on "Star Destroyer _Nobility_, move in to reinforce point five-echo-six. Star Destroyer _Attrition _and _Concordance _assume battle positons at point eleven-mark-nine and thirteen-delta-five."

As ordered, the Venator-Class Cruiser _Nobility _jumps in from the safety of the reserve fleet and take up combat positions in place of the lost _Belfast _and _Revelation_. In addition, the two larger Imperator-Class Star Destroyer _Attrition _and _Concordance _performs their own hyperspace jump and came out in the heated battle flanking both port and starboard sides of the _Assertor_ before releasing their air wings of fighters and bombers. As expected, both vessels became targeted by the Covenant fleet, launching small volleys of plasma torpedoes against the new ships but much to everyone's surprise the more modernized and advanced shielding of the Imperator classes proved to be much more resilient than the Venator, the _Concordance _was able to take three torpedo hits without suffering any hull damage though at much cost to shield power despite the advancement.

In little to no time, the ship's gunnery crew had locked in the targeting parameters of the nearest battlecruiser and took aim with its portside main batteries, consisting of three twin-barreled heavy turbolaser turrets and a heavy ion battery acting as the fourth gun, then fired. A flurry of green and blue energy fire raced across the vacuum until it collided with the covenant's energy shielding, beating away like a drum to moderate effect. In kind response, the battlecruiser responded with its own devastating barrage of pulse laser and torpedo fire, slamming into the shields and eventually breaking through and pummel the thick durasteel armor beneath to greater effect.

Beyond the two giants clashing, the war in space roared onwards growing in intensity. But beyond that, two forces moved to gain control of the ancient relic that lied beneath the north polar ice caps . . .

[Phantom dropship, _Solemn Night_]

The squadron of thirteen phantoms raced from the outlying zones of the conflict to Azloc's north pole where they will find what they will defend with their very lives. Each dropship contained roughly thirty capable soldiers totaling to about three hundred and ninety loyal soldiers to the Great Journey, accompanying them were four Wraith Main Battle Tanks and six more Ghost Rapid Attack Vehicles.

Within the lead phantom, coated with a burgundy alloy nanolaminate hull, 'Vadamee along with his personal squad of twelve Spec Ops Rangers, Admiral Gran who stood by the Shipmaster's side, and four selected clone troopers still outfitted in their artic gear and armed with their old blaster weapons. Gran chose these four knowing they would keep a cool head, knowing that if one trooper steps out of line or worse, openly attacks 'Vadamee or his men, it would cost him his life and that of everyone else still left in his command that he swore to protect, thirty sum troopers and officers.

_"__We are breaking through the planet's upper atmosphere"_ the pilot's voice broke through on the phantom's intercom.

"Good, stay the course. We need to reach the relic before the humans do, if they open it all will be lost to us" Shev instructs.

_"__Yes Shipmaster."_

Gran, standing ever so diligent, kept his eyes on his men who stood close to one another, dwarfed by the much larger Sangheili, and asks "This 'relic', I suppose it is something that was created by your gods?"

"Indeed. Though despite our efforts to open the gateway have yet to learn its purpose and function, it has become apparent that we require the aid of a human. Such as yourself . . ."

"So this is why you kept me around, I'll be honest but I don't understand why you need a human. Is there a sort of significance?"

"During the course of our war against the humans, we have come to realize that they possess a certain characteristic that allows them to interact with particular relics and holy sites, a trait we do not have."

"You wage a war against humans but yet you need their help to unlock the greatest of secrets your gods have left you . . . humph."

"Mark the irony if you wish, but that is the tragic truth. But you are lucky to be under my care and not of 'Artamee's, he would have killed your men and slay you the moment you outlive your usefulness."

"What makes me think you won't do the same?"

"Because unlike him, I keep my word regardless of who I give it to. You perform what I ask of you and I will ensure the liveliness of you and your men."

"You've also taken the risk of arming them too . . ."

"It is a waste to have trained men just lying about. With what few assets we have we cannot afford to chance anything."

The floor beneath shook as the craft began to level out and fly low to the snowy plains beneath them, the dropships continue to fly in formation as they now approach the relic site just several kilometers away.

"If you're asking them to fight against their brethren, you know they rather kill themselves before doing such a thing" Gran warns him.

"I am aware of that and I truly understand, rest assured I will not ask them to do so. Instead I have other uses for them."

"Such as?"

"Thus far the relic has not yet been open, this only leads to the speculation that the interior systems and defenses are still operational."

"What sort of defenses?"

"Nothing of any real threat, only combative constructs left by the builders to care for the holy site. I am sure your men are capable of handling themselves."

The admiral then gruffly remarks "Hmph, let's hope so . . ."

At this time Gran catches movement out of the corner of his left eye, he turns his head to see a ranger approaching him and more specifically 'Vadamee who also turned to meet his fellow Sangheili "Have you acquired the status of the enemy forces?"

"Yes Sire" the ranger responded, his voice sounded mechanical due to the vocoder in his black helmet that showed nothing but the face behind a dimmed transparent visor, he reaches for his utility belt found along his waist and produces a small orb-like device before he thumbs a small switch which brings a visualized map of the local regions into sight.

He then began "The human transports have made their way to an open field four kilometers away and are deploying their armies as we speak. Given the acceleration of their heavy vehicles we should expect the bulk of their forces to arrive within the next hour."

Shev took the report into consideration ". . . Very well, we shall set our defenses around the site. Once they come within range of our heavy mortars I want continuous fire raining down upon them. That should slow their advance long enough for reinforcements to arrive and handle the matter."

"Yes Sire, is there anything else?" the soldier asks.

"That is all for now."

The ranger nods in acknowledgment and leaves to relay the orders, not soon after the pilot's voice spoke again _"__I have visual on holy relic, initiating landing protocols."_

"Very well" the shipmaster responds before turning to his men "Rangers! Prepare to deploy!"

A chorus of grunts and victorious roars resonated from the crowd of aliens "RAAH!"

Shev took up his position pacing through the center row in between his men and began to heighten his troop's morale "Throughout the existence of our o'holy Covenant, we great and righteous many have held close to the promise of the Great Journey! For endless time we have persevered through the seven ages!"

Then one voice spoke out from amongst them "The First Age: Ignorance and Fear!"

Then a second "The Second Age: Rivalry and Bloodshed!"

The third "The Third Age: Humility and Brotherhood!"

And so forth "The Fourth Age: Wonder and Understanding!"

"The Fifth Age: Obedience and Freedom!"

"The Sixth Age: Faith and Patience!"

In unison the entirety of the crew roared "The Seventh Age: Journey and Salvation!"

Apart from the Covenant, the four clones and Gran remained silent as they watched their contemporary allies continue to rise in spirit as they prepared for deployment, Shev continues "We righteous many walk a path, gifted to those of all walks of life! The weak, the strong, the old, the new, the ill, the loyal, and the just, any and all who believes in the Great Journey and the ascension to godhood is welcome to join us on our holy quest for salvation for the path is broad and we walk it side by side!"

The rangers roared ever so louder, their blood boiled for a fight in hopes that in the time of their sacrifices and eventual death will be secured in promised salvation.

"They're fanatics . . ." one clone muttered under his breath, only Gran and the other clones could hear his voice.

"Watch the tone trooper, you wouldn't want to insult them" Gran scorned him in whisper.

But one trooper began "Look at 'em, all lined up. We can take them."

"You will do no such thing. You raise that weapon and you will doom us and the others still aboard their ship" the admiral commanded.

Then a third, the battalion leader Commander Cobol, voiced his opinion in a calm manner "With all due respect Sir, we were born to fight and die if necessary. We all knew what we signed up for."

"I understand that Commander, but you are failing to see the bigger picture here. Whatever this relic is they're looking for, it could be a large potential threat to the Galaxy at whole. Kill them if you wish but they will just send another commander to investigate the site, if they kill us there won't be anyone to ascertain the threat and hopefully get word back to the Empire."

"What're you thinking?" Cobol asked, now seeing the point Gran was making.

"We keep our heads cool and do as the Shipmaster says, soon we'll see what's inside this relic and proceed accordingly."

Cobol merely nodded in agreement to the plan, the others however shifted uncomfortably with one stating "I don't like this . . ."

"Nobody said you had to Tremor" the clone commander adds "Just follow the Admiral's lead and we'll pull through."

Almost after those words, the pilot alerts the passengers "We have arrived! All lances deploy!"

The side hatches unlatched themselves and swiveled downwards allowing the sudden rush of cold crisp air to flow in, the Sangheili rangers then without thought rushed out the hatches leaping off the craft and into the ankle-deep snow below. Gran and his men however approached and stepped into a centralized gravity well that shined from the phantom's belly and soon they were met with 'Vadamee and the others.

Upon first inspection, they appeared to be in the middle of a vast flat field of white snow, the weather was calm with the sun out and no wind or signs of storms to be seen, the distant horizon was lined with mountains but they must've been more than ten kilometers away. However as one would take a more thorough look around them they would come to realize that the Covenant task force has landed right next to what reports would suggest to be a massive plateau nearly the size of the average ORS-Class Heavy Cruiser in length and width. And embedded within the icy walls of the plateau was a single massive protrusion of silver angular metal and blue subtle lights in detail taking the shape of a gateway large enough to permit the Wraiths entry but only in single line.

The hundreds of Covenant soldiers that arrived with 'Vadamee proceeded to secure the local area as the phantoms deployed their vehicles and 'Vadamee and company walked towards the gateway itself, still sealed away from the outside world.

The humans could only gaze in astonishment at the elegant architecture and sheer size that was put into the construction of this facility "So this is the relic? It's nothing like we've seen . . ." the Admiral asks out of awe.

"No, but merely the home of what we seek" Shev answers, seemingly pleased by the humans' reaction upon seeing the exterior "The true prize lies deep inside."

The group came to a halt at the door where they were then greeted by two Sangheili majors that stood patiently for their arrival.

"Raku nas vamus 'Vadamee" the first of two spoke, welcoming the Shipmaster in their native language.

But for the sake of the humans he kept it English "What is the progress of the gateway 'Taloh?"

The majors briefly glanced at one another before the welcoming major replied in the same manner "Forgive us but despite our great efforts we have not yet been able to open the relic."

"I see . . ." the Shipmaster acknowledges with sum disappointment found in his voice.

'Taloh then immediately tries to recover "B-but rest assured the humans have been kept away long enough to find something of note . . ."

"And that is?"

"The glyphs on the door speaks that only those chosen by the ancients may open the seal, I regret to inform you that we require two humans to open it."

"And that can be easily arranged, no fear" 'Vadamee answered with some pride as he turned his head towards the men behind him.

'Taloh looks pass his superior and notice the five armed humans standing behind the shipmaster, "Sire?" he asks bewildered by such a sight.

"Do not worry, they come as allies in our endeavor. They will open the seal and grant us entry."

The major stood silently for several moments, pondering on how the Shipmaster would go about this with little to no quarrel or reluctance, but soon he gives in "As you wish Sire."

With no more reports to make, 'Taloh steps aside and allows the Shipmaster, his rangers, and the humans to do what needs to be done. Shev was quick to notice two pedestals on either side of the door, each housed a holographic blue ball littered with the glyphs of the ancients, it was true that no member Covenant could access the locks and open the door, but then he turns to Gran.

"You and one of your men will be required for this task" he states.

"What do you need us to do?" the Admiral asks inquisitively.

"Step over to the pedestals, lay the palm of your hand upon the locks and open the door. We shall see if you are of some use."

Gran glanced at the mentioned locks then notions Cobol to make his way to the left lock as he heads over to the right. With no interruption of the Covenant, the two peacefully walked over to their respective terminals and glanced at one another with the Admiral giving the assuring nod. Without further hesitation both raised their hands and gently laid it against the orb of light, the glyphs that came within contact of the hand lit up and slowly a hum of power came to life with the inner workings of the facility turning and brimmed with activity. Then in a thunderous roar, the doors finally unlatched themselves and began to slowly slide open.

Gran and Cobol steadily stepped away from the locks and gazed upon the artifact, a bright white light beamed from the entrance as the doors drew farther and farther apart until they fully concealed themselves within the walls. The gateway was open.

'Vadamee and his men were in awe, many whispered holy verses and poems but few felt that no words should be said in this momentous occasion. The clones couldn't describe what they just witnessed and stood worriedly for what lied inside.

"Rangers!" Shev barked "Proceed and secure the relic, the humans will offer support."

One of the spec-ops Sangheili gave a sharp bark towards the others, signaling them to follow him in, meanwhile Gran signaled his hand ordering his men to follow him as well.

As the rangers and clones proceed through the entrance, an elite commander approaches the Shipmaster "What of the rest?"

"Form up your defenses in and around the entrance, send our light vehicles to slow down the enemy's advance. "

"As you wish."

With nothing else to say, Shev ventures into the entrance following his comrades and allies into the facility where their goal lies. Passing through the gateway, the Shipmaster catches up with his men and the humans who were beginning to take their first glances at the architecture around them. They were currently traveling through a short entry corridor slanted downwards, large enough to allow heavy vehicles such as the Wraith to pass through, gazing upon the sharp angular design. Passing through the entrance they come out into a vast atrium that ran the length of a mile further into the plateau which concealed it from the outside world. On both sides of the grand hall stood monolithic struts that protruded from the walls, each brimmed with glowing blue lights in detail showing that the facility was still in operation even long after the time of its creators. However dividing the atrium in half lays an artificially created chasm that showed no end to its depths, the chasm ran the length of the facility and splits off into two to form a circular abyss around a single platform on the far side, housing what the Covenant had come for. To traverse across the chasm, the creators built two separate walkways that splits in half and ran along both sides of the room with the black depths still prevalent in the middle.

"Here it is . . ." Shev spoke, trying his best to conceal the shock and awe he had just felt.

Gran and his men were dumbstruck, the only thoughts that went through his mind was how was anyone unable to find facility of this size for the past eons? How long have these creators existed and where have they gone? How powerful were they truly?

These questions were quickly dashed away by the sound of something large approaching, the heavy whir of machinery and energy drew closer prompting everyone to raise their weapons in preparation for a firefight. Then without warning a gargantuan machine rose from the chasm itself, the drone featured heavy plated armor in its hull with what looked like two massive arms housing a sort of repulsor drive that kept it afloat in midair, two smaller arms revealed themselves from within and quickly deployed a blue shielded barrier in between itself and the visitors.

"What kind of droid is that!?" a clone yelled, his DC-15S carbine firmly trained on its glowing red photoreceptor.

"Stow that weapon you fool!" 'Vadamee roared "You will surely kill us all!"

Gran then intervened "Stand down Narvo! Stand Down!"

The clone reluctantly backed down but kept his weapon ready, despite this five smaller constructs arrived on the scene. Four of them showed similar angular designs as their larger brother but appeared to be more agile and exhibited two arms for grasping and other duties, the fifth however was a roughly spherical ball with three concave sides and a single glowing white eye. As the constructs came closer some of the men could tell it was humming to itself until it came to a stop in between them and the massive droid.

"Oh! Hello there!" the sphere chirped excitedly "Welcome!" its voice sounding masculine and polite.

Gran felt uneasy and was prompted to ask "What… are you?"

But it was Shev who enlightened him with an answer "This is an oracle . . . holy servant to our gods. I did not think we would find one here."

"Oracle?" the sphere asks perplexed "I'm not familiar with that title. But I do remember your kind, Sangheili. From before the war. I am 3705 Solemn Inquiry; I am the caretaker of this installation."

"I am Shev 'Vadamee, Shipmaster of the Cruiser _Harmonious Condemnation _and member of the _Fleet of Valiant Prudence_, we come as followers of the Great Journey in hopes that we may find our way home and resume our sacred mission."

"And that is?" Solemn wonders.

"To continue our extermination of the human filth that plagues the galaxy so that we may secure our place in godhood with those who have left before . . ."

"Extermination of the Human race? Godhood? You have me confused . . ."

Before Shev could continue, Gran intervenes and asks "This installation, what is it?"

"Oh, this installation is known as the Observatory. It was built to study and examine this galaxy and the progression of its inhabitants, over the course of my assignment here I have watched and catalogued every event in galactic history from the times of the so-called Celestials to the rise of your new Galactic Empire . . ."

"Everything?"

"Quite so . . . Ivan Gran."

Gran's posture perked up as the monitor has now captured his full attention "You know my name . . ."

"I have been studying you and your fleet ever since you arrived some time ago. With the Observatory I can observe anything I desire."

'Vadamee steps in with a newfound interest "This Observatory, care to demonstrate how it works?"

"Gladly" Solemn spoke confidently signaling the large machine to deactivate its shields and retreat back into the chasm, the smaller ones scattered and left to tend to other duties, "Please, follow me."

The ball turns and floats away beginning to hymn to himself once again, 'Vadamee and Gran with their company began to follow. The group moved along one of the two major paths that led to their destination on the far side.

Then 3705 began "To be honest I wasn't sure when I would have visitors again, you are the first to walk these halls in thousands of years."

"Who were the last visitors?" the imperial admiral asks.

"Why, my creators of course."

"And who were they? So far I only know they built this facility."

"They were known by many as the Forerunners, a proud and intelligent race that held the Mantle of Responsibility. They believed that with their advanced technology and culture, they could protect all that lives within the galaxy and they had done so for a great many millennia."

"What happened to them?"

"The same thing that happens to all great empires, my creators waged a war so fraught with death numbering in the trillions. They could not contain the Flood and were forced to utilize their last resort. Halo . . ."

"Halo?" Gran ponders.

Shev answers "The holy sacred rings, said to have the power to propel all of those worthy onto the Great Journey, those who are blessed ascend their mortal forms and become one with the gods."

Solemn gave the Sangheili a curious glance but resumes looking forward adding "In a sense that is correct from your perspective. After the firing of the Halo Array, my creators vanished from existence whether by 'ascending to godhood' or fleeing the galaxy entirely to rebuild civilization elsewhere."

Then something occurred in the monitor's processes, prompting him to turn towards 'Vadamee stopping everyone else and ask "Funny, I was confident that the Sangheili species was not catalogued in the transport's databanks before departure from Installation 00 . . . how you managed to arrive here?"

The Shipmaster was for the moment silent, this monitor was becoming more inquisitive than he had hoped but for his sake he had to answer truthfully "My forgiveness Oracle, but our vessel suffered from a void cataclysm that warped us to an unknown world. The humans we were eradicating were more cunning and determined than we thought."

"Hmm, a slipspace detonation purposely caused to remove a hostile presence, bold and cunning indeed" he adds before floating away, resuming their walk to the Observatory "But now I have another question; after the incident where do you believe you were teleported?"

"In one of the outreaching arms of our galaxy, far away from Covenant space and our war with the humans . . ."

"Oh dear, I'm afraid you have it all wrong. The explosion had devastating effects causing an unknown variable to occur and launch what remained of your ship to an entirely new galaxy . . . you are a long ways from home Sangheili . . ."

This remark completely threw Gran and the clones off guard with Cobol stating "W-Wait . . ." catching 37's attention "You're saying that these guys are from a whole different galaxy!? Is that even possible?"

"It is, before the war the Forerunners were already committing several ships to long range exploration missions, planting beacons and portals in remote portions of new galaxies so that one day they may come to colonize. It was said that in the final moments of the war, three Forerunner Keyships launched and eventually arrived here to find refuge from their past. From there they began to explore and study this galaxy, constructing the Observatory in the meanwhile."

"So the Forerunners were extra-galactic as well" Gran notes, trying to make sense of it "But why are they not heard of in our records?"

"They maintained upmost secrecy to ensure their safety, they come only to watch. But once someone caught their scent, they vanish from existence. I'm afraid to say that it had been roughly over ninety thousands years ago since I last laid my sights on them, a lot could have happened since then. Most likely to find other galaxies to explore."

'Vadamee then asks "Oracle, you said that the ancients had built beacons and portals. Is it possible one leads back to our home?"

3705 took a moment to think before answering ". . . It is possible, though which installation contains such technology will take some time to find."

At last the group reached the far end of the atrium where they could see a central circular platform with no visible bridge to connect it, Solemn then refers to Gran "Admiral, if you would so kindly as to extend the bridge."

He motions himself towards a single pedestal that sat close by next to the walls, Gran follows his glare and spots the device as well and makes his way over. He reaches it and with calm he lays the palm of his hand on the glowing sphere which in response glowed and gave an energetic whir, in moments they all heard mechanical sounds operate beneath their feet and finally a bridge of subtle blue light appeared from thin air connecting the two sides and granting passage for the visitors.

Cobol couldn't help but glare at the bridge "An energy bridge? Not bad . . ."

"Impressed? This bridge consists of hardened light, a common sight within Forerunner technology."

"You can manipulate light? That is impressive" the Commander replied.

"Quite so, we even have been able to weaponize the light into solid projectiles capable of eliminating hostile targets, both armored and unarmored. But sadly my sentinels are not armed with such lethal weaponry."

The group crossed the bridge in steady steps, two troopers dared to look down through the bridge to see the bottomless pit they were over then quickly resume walking, until they finally stepped onto the platform housing the primary device.

The cylinder-shaped machine protruded from the ground with four struts on every side reaching up all the way to another large protrusion extending down from the ceiling itself, there wasn't much to describe in appearance because the machine was complexly built.

"This is the Spyglass" Solemn began "The most crucial device within the Observatory. Through an interconnected network of ground-based surveillance installations and Slipspace-anchored satellites spread out on a galactic scale, this device could bring even the smallest conversations to viewing, if it were my desire."

"You can watch everything from just here?" the admiral asks "How?"

"Allow me to demonstrate, does anyone have a specified place or person they wish to see?"

The Sangheili and the clones glanced at one another pondering about their decisions, but Gran knew what he already had in mind "My wife, Aliana, she lives on Anaxes with our son, Gabriel . . ."

Solemn Inquiry acknowledges the request with a nod and in response a small blue pulsating orb of light developed from the center of the machine, the ball blinked with every second.

"What is it doing?" the imperial asked.

"Currently searching for your spouse, it shouldn't take long . . ." the monitor answered as he dutifully watched the light.

And in moments the light swiftly and violently expanded in a bright flash forcing everyone to look away for a brief moment before turning to look again and see a beautiful middle-aged woman constructed in blue hardlight sitting down on a chair next to table. On the table was a small metal box.

"Is this her?" 3705 questioned.

Ivan tried to fight back this overwhelming sense of joy in his heart, now seeing his beloved for the first time in three years, tears slowly started to drip from his hazel eyes "Yes . . . there's no doubt about it . . ."

At first glance everything seemed perfect, but Gran noticed something wasn't right and his heart began to sink. He could hear light sobbing coming from Aliana, small trickles of light fell from her eyes, was she grieving?

A young man's voice off hologram then spoke _"__Mother?" _ through the Spyglass it sounded mechanical.

The woman glanced over and called back _"__In the kitchen Gabe . . ." _her voice sounded weak.

In moments a man in a pressed naval uniform walks in, setting down a book on the table and kneel next to his mother _"__I got out of the Academy earlier than I should've, I figured I'm needed here more."_

_"__What about your assignments-"_

_"__They can wait . . . right now I'm here with you. How are you holding up?"_

_"__. . . As much as you would expect . . ."_

Gabriel fell silent, letting out a tiresome sigh, he places his hand on her shoulders _"__I miss him too . . . he died a hero, just like Governor Constance said . . ."_

Aliana shifted her tearful eyes towards the small box and takes hold of it, pressing a small button which then a holographic head rose from the box itself, Ivan's own head. The two stared at Gran for some time until she switches it off and opens the box itself, inside was a decorated medal, one awarded to families who had suffered a loss. A posthumous award.

"No . . ." the admiral whispered beneath his breath.

_"__I just wish he was here . . . with us" _she spoke as she starts to break down into tears.

"I am here . . . I'm still alive . . ."

_"__So do I mother . . ."_

"NO! I'm still here! I'm right here!" Gran begins to yell.

But 3705 had to intervene "They cannot hear or see you Admiral, I truly am sorry."

Ivan, now heartbroken and on the brink of breaking down himself, steps away in defeat as the hardlight figures themselves broke down into a million tiny fragments signaling the end of their observation.

"They think I'm dead . . ." Gran muttered to himself.

Cobol then came to reassure him "Don't worry Sir, we'll get out of this in one piece, then you can see them again."

As the clones comforted their incapacitated leader, 'Vadamee steps forth and asks "Can you show us the enemy forces that are heading this way as we speak?"

"Certainly" Inquiry nods.

And in no time a vast snowy plain materialized into view, upon it were two Accalmator-Class Assault Ships disembarking their complements of troops and vehicles numbering well in the hundreds. The Imperial army vastly outnumbers the Covenant force at the Observatory, both in manpower and vehicles, and was now marching their way towards them.

"That is a sizeable force . . ." Solemn notes.

'Vadamee then explains "Oracle, we cannot allow them to take this relic. Should they do so they will abuse its power with unjust."

"From what I have observed so far I believe you are correct. What are you proposing?"

Shev turns to two of his rangers and orders "Send word to the men outside, bring them into the facility and prepare fortifications."

"And what of our tanks?"

"Have two set up defensive positions inside and send the rest to a safe distance within weapons range, and do send escorts with them in the likely chances they are attacked. If we can lure the enemy near the entrance our heavy cannons should cause significant damage before they get inside."

The ranger bowed his head "It will be done Sire" before he and another Sangheili ran off to relay the orders.

The Shipmaster then turns to the rest of his men "Rangers, prepare yourselves as needed. I want vantage points secured and ambush positions set in place. We will not grant the Empire the hope of gaining the Observatory. This challenge will finally test us after our long absence of holy crusades. Now go!"

The Sangheili charges roared furiously, some sounding proudly than others, before they too rushed off to do what is required, leaving 'Vadamee, Gran, and the clones with 3705 who then asked "And what of my Sentinels and myself?"

"Use them as you wish Oracle, we will need your support if we are to protect this facility and the answers we seek."

"My security forces are at your disposal but be warned that this facility only has a small number of combat-ready units available, the Observatory was not built for the endurance of war."

"Rest assured your servants will be used to their full potential, but as for you I require you remain safe and hidden. Should we fall I do not want them to capture you."

"If that is what you are requesting, so be it. I will go and make the necessary preparations."

3705 then sputters away and dives into the chasm below. Leaving the only six behind.

The shipmaster then turns to the Imperial Admiral and his men "I will not ask you to fight your kind if you wish, but I implore you to understand the significance of this quest we together are undertaking. If we are able to gain victory we will have a chance of returning home, if you agree to aid us I will guarantee you and your men safety from 'Artamee and the other Covenant and once we have secured a path home, I will release you back into the hands of your kind."

"That's a big promise you're making Shipmaster" notes Ivan "What's going to stop you from killing us once all is said and done?"

The Sangheili knew his answer but took a moment to phrase it in his mind, then he said "It is like you said back aboard the cruiser, we have more things in common than we realize. The most important of which is our families, both believes us to be dead and I wish to correct that. Perhaps it may even grant me some calm and atonement for the past atrocities I have committed."

"What do you mean?"

"That is something I will speak of later, if you choose to join us."

Gran couldn't make the decision but unfortunately he had little time to decide before the Imperial Army arrives "We'll decide that after this fight. We'll do what we can but I'll hold you to your word that you won't force my men to kill their brothers."

"Very well . . . let us move on then."

The clones and their commander heads off, 'Vadamee was beginning to follow them until he heard a low-pitched blip resonate from his belt. He reaches down and grabs hold of a small holographic displayer, he thumbs a small button on the side and quickly a set of glyphs rises up for him to read.

The message was as stated _"__Reinforcements underway."_

**Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.**


	44. The Azloc Findings Pt3

**Vanguard**

**Chapter 44**

**"****The Azloc Findings Pt. 3"**

[Observatory, Azloc lll]

"Medic! I need a medic over here!"

"Watch the left! Watch it!"

"GRENADE!"

"We have no cover! We need t- GACK!"

"Argh! These guys have tough shields!"

"Focus your shots lads! We can beat these guys!"

"Kidder! Look ou- GWAAH!"

This was the chorus of imperial voices crying out fighting and dying for something they knew nothing of. It wasn't long for the clone army to arrive at the Observatory after the Empire landed its troops on the icy flats of Azloc lll. In spite of suffering losses from harassing scouts and bombarding mortar tanks from afar, the Imperial forces have managed to secure the entrance into the Forerunner installation but beyond that they are currently unable to gain much more ground due to fierce Covenant resistance led by 'Vadamee. The Sangheili rangers have dug themselves in behind every bit of cover they could find fighting fiercely to keep the Empire away from the relic known as the Spyglass.

From said Spyglass Gran and his men could see the heavy fighting, volleys of plasma and blaster fire racing towards each ends of the facility. Clone soldiers dying by the dozens while Sangheili only fell in fewer numbers.

Upon seeing such bloodshed, Cobol felt the need to speak his mind "Sir, are we really going to just stand around and watch our brothers die? We can take these guys right now and secure the Observatory ourselves."

"As much as I hate to say it, yes, but please understand that we'll be able to do more good in the position we are in now…" the admiral explains "The Covenant has more knowledge about these installations than anyone else in the galaxy combined, if we stay at their side long enough we will be able to bring critical information back to the Empire."

"Assuming 'Vadamee keeps his word" the commander retorts.

"If he goes back on it, we'll need to be ready."

[Orbit]

In the space surrounding the planet, the naval engagement continued to rage on with no clear sign of a true winner. Covenant forces persist to show true defiance against a numerical foe, their ships relentlessly cutting and slicing into the imperial warships that smash and batter them in return. Fighter deployments have now dwindled to scattered pockets of heavy fighting after each other's forces have suffered innumerable losses. In the midst of one such pocket found within the ranks of the imperial cruisers, clone ace pilot Tracer continue to prove himself to be a versatile fighter as he moves from one target to the next effectively putting bolts of fire downrange and striking his enemies down.

One particular banshee interceptor began making rapid and wild fast-paced maneuvers to shake the ace the moment Tracer caught sight of him, the small and nimble alien craft showed that it had a well experienced pilot at the controls. However Tracer wasn't willing to let him go free just yet trying his best to stay on the banshee's tail until it killed its own propulsion drive, tilted its hull to where it faced the imperial dreadnought _Assertor_ and immediately break out in a sudden force of speed gunning right for the flagship. This maneuver threw Tracer off target but only for a moment as he comes around and resumes pursuit.

"Assertor Actual this is Tracer, you got a bandit getting ready to make a run on the bridge!" the pilot warned.

Then in no time Admiral Res' voice responded "_Acknowledged Gray-1, our shields are down, take out that fighter before he's able to complete his run!_"

The clone pushed his throttle lever to the maximum pushing his engine output to greater lengths, the banshee fighter was darting right for the dreadnought's command tower and its command center was its main target.

"Not on my watch…" Tracer muttered as his strike craft closed in on the interceptor and prepared to acquire a firing solution.

But the Covenant fighter was already aware of what was happening and in response to Tracer's attempts the fighter began sporadically moving about in an attempt to disrupt the Z-95's targeting computer off track, banking hard left and right, up and down, in any direction but all the while still closing in on its target. Tracer cursed under his breath but he continued to slowly etch towards the banshee just until he was finally in range, but unfortunately for him, the banshee was in range of its target as well. Wasting not another second, Tracer thumbs the trigger on his control stick firing off twin bolts of plasma downrange onto target just as it too launched a green volatile capsule of radiation from its heavy launcher seconds before a bolt clipped its starboard wing and forced it to lose control.

He quickly warns the bridge crew "_Shot incoming! Brace! Brace!_"

The capsule smacked into the side hull plating of the command center, violently detonating and sending a splash of superheated plasma and radiation in all directions. The out of control craft however careened into the _Assertor's _superstructure somewhere below the command bridge but regardless where ever it landed it did rather significant damage.

"Target down…" Tracer spoke half-heartedly as he looks down at the impact zone, the hull twisted and turned in ways it shouldn't be after its atmosphere was vented out along with whatever crew stood in it at the time "What's the damage?"

"_One of the tactical analysis bays is lost and our communications are somewhat at partial power_" the admiral reports, his tone indicates he too felt that loss, _"__The fleet can't keep up with this for much longer, we need to end this fight swiftly before we're all destroyed."_

"What do you have in mind Admiral?"

_"__To be honest I'm not quite sure, the enemy tears them apart as soon as they come in range but… I suppose we don't have any other option now. If we keep up with the current strategy none of us is going to get out of here- I'm calling in the rest of our forces, it's now do or die Tracer. Form up what pilots you__can and prep for a run on their flagship."_

"Right with you all the way Admiral."

Tracer pulls his fighter away from the battered dreadnought and begins to transmit on the secure network "All fighters call in, I need a headcount."

There was a pause of silence before he hears a voice come back _"__Dice here, kinda lost you in that mess for a bit."_

_"__Haywire here, I'm doubling back to your position."_

One by one other fighters responded to Tracer's call, rounding up to roughly thirty fighters and bombers still combat ready, then he sends his orders "Alright everyone form up on me, we're going to make a run straight for their command ship."

_"__Ah I can't wait for this! We're finally going to end this!"_ a bomber pilot so cheerfully speaks.

But Dice knew something wasn't right _"__That huge cruiser? That's a risky move with those escort ships so close to it."_

"We're running out of options Dice, the Admiral is calling in the rest of the fleet for support."

_"__One final effort then… Alright I'm in."_

_"__Count me in too!"_ another pilot spoke.

A chorus of clone voices complied in agreeance to the new plan, they knew this would be their last ditch effort knowing that if they fail they would be leaving the galaxy with a new threat to contend with. The last remaining fighters pooled up behind Tracer's leading craft, the force has now grown to about fifty strike craft. Meanwhile, the remaining imperial cruiser formations jumps in behind the _Assertor_ totaling to about twenty some ships still in active service against the Covenant's dwindling numbers of cruisers and escort ships.

"Alright everyone, follow my lead and keep it tight, we're going in!" Tracer bellowed setting his thrust to full output.

The pilots followed by example and revved up their sub-light engines to keep up with the clone ace, the fighters began to form a sort of shell around the few bombers they had to keep them protected until they can come within weapons range of the Covenant heavy cruiser. However almost immediately upon entering Covenant aerospace the alien cruisers began unleashing their point-defense pulse weaponry lashing out with beams of concentrated energy into the flight of fighters trying to break their way through the outer-most layer of defense. Most fighters were able to avoid these incoming attacks but some were not as fortunate as they are shot down or blown apart entirely from pulse lasers. Not long after several wings of Seraph and Banshees were swiftly deployed from the few battlecruisers meant to quickly intercept the imperial attack, multiple clone fighters pull away from the formation to engage the Covenant and buy the rest of the pilots enough time to complete their run. By now they past the second layer of defense but now faced more intense fire coming from the capital ships and now the flagship itself, heavy flak and more pulse strikes filled the air around the clones who continue to charge right for their target regardless of the losses they're sustaining.

"Keep it together boys! We're almost there!" Tracer's voice barks as his flotilla of ships closes in on its target.

But with each passing moment the intensity of fire grew more and more, the difficulty of maintaining formation was next to damn near impossible, ships were shot out of the air and casted into the vacuum of space in roaring balls of flames. However, it was also at this time that they finally came within striking distance…

Tracer sets his gun sights on the three kilometer long cruiser, the gap between them was rapidly closing, then he finally barks the order "Fighters break!"

The escorting Starfighters broke formation around the sheltered bombers, one pilot in response speaks _"__Target locked, ion cannons ready_!"

In unison, the remaining bomber closed into optimal weapons range and fired a single volley of ion charged particles into the heavy cruiser's shields, blasting away whatever was remaining of the Covenant's protective barrier causing the shields to finally fall after the long and enduring battle. The small nimble collection of fighters and bombers zipped past the cruiser, avoiding its close range point-defense batteries, and regrouped once more on the other side of the vessel for another attack run.

The fighters formed up and began their next run on the cruiser along its dorsal hull, meanwhile Tracer examined the ship and noted a potential structural weak point on the cruiser, it's 'neck' connecting its bulbous prow to the rest of the ship.

"Alright everyone, concentrate your fire on the neck of the ship, if we can do enough damage we can take the whole thing down."

_"__Copy that" _a bomber pilot answered _"__Making our run on the neck, follow me in boys. Set power to front deflectors."_

The Y-wings grouped up together and zeroed in with the remaining fighters following them in, by this point the ORS Heavy Cruiser has begun bearing all of its weaponry down on its attackers in coordination with a detachment of Banshees sent to stop the clones no matter the cost.

_"__Fighters coming in!"_ a fighter pilot roared, revving his thrusters to get ahead of the bombers and protect them.

The other fighters followed example and raced ahead of the Y-Wings to immediately engage the covenant interceptors, the two forces clashed and erupted into a full-on dogfight as the bombers flew right through still focused on their primary target. However they attracted the attention of several banshees that quickly gave chase to stop them before they could unleash their payload.

_"__Bandits on our six!" _one clone pilot warned as he sets in the targeting parameters for his bomber.

_"__I got it! I got it!" _a bomber turret gunner replies, his twin blaster cannons blistering with heat and plasma, doing his best to keep the banshees off of them.

A trio of interceptors closes in on a single Y-Wing bomber and let loose a torrent of automatic plasma fire from their twin repeating cannons, the bomber in question was quickly ripped apart and sent spiraling ablaze before it violently detonates in mid-air, afterwards the bombers were beginning to be systematically wiped out from fighters and anti-air artillery coming from the cruiser. However the few bombers that made it to firing range swooped in and deliver a barrage of proton bombs each leaving a trail of utter destruction across the neck of the cruiser, each bomb penetrated the outer nano-laminate hull and explodes with unrivaled ferocity from within.

One pilot looks back at the damage he had caused _"__That was a perfect run, but we're going to need to do another run if we want the job done."_

"Okay get ready for another run" Tracer answers "We'll do everything we can to keep these guys off your backs."

_"__Acknowledged, regrouping for another pass."_

As the bombers regrouped for another attack, Tracer turns his attention back to the fight he was already a part of and quickly shoots another banshee out of existence.

He then asks aloud "Dice, Haywire, where are you?"

_"__I'm here" _Haywire answered.

_"__Hang on!" _Dice's voice sounded with alarm _"__I got two of them on me- I can't shake 'em!"_

"Dice where are you!?" Tracer demanded.

Haywire reports _"__I see him, he's right above us!"_

Tracer turned his eyes upwards in time to see a single headhunter fighter being tailed by two more banshees who were staying on him despite the amount of maneuvers Dice tried to take.

"Hang on Dice, we're coming! Haywire, on me!"

_"__Right behind you boss!"_

Two headhunter starfighters immediately broke from the engagement and begun to race their way upwards to aid their friend in need, fearing they might come too late they set power to their thrusters gaining them a boost in max velocity to help them get to Dice.

Dice ducked and rolled in every possible direction but he couldn't shake the interceptors that were keeping up with him _"__Argh" _he grunts as he sees bolts of plasma whiz pass his cockpit.

"We're almost there Dice, just hang on a little more!" Tracer barked to him.

_"__They're closing on me! Get these guys off me!" _Dice cried out loud.

Haywire attempted to reassure his brother _"__We're coming buddy, just a little more time!"_

Tracer and his wingman now had a clearer sight on Dice and his two pursuers, with one more joining the chase, they only needed to come into weapons range to hopefully save their friend. They however came too late…

A single plasma bolt pierces through Dice's right wing, taking out a stabilizer and causing the pilot to begin losing control of his craft _"__Damn it! I lost my stabilizer I can't hold it!"_

"Dice make heading towards us, we'll cover you!" Tracer demanded.

But following that single bolt came a wave of plasma that soon found their mark as well, the combined firepower of the three banshee interceptors quickly and brutally ripped the Starfighter apart.

Dice only had enough time to let out one last cry _"__No! No! NOO-WAA-"_ before his fighter erupted into a blazing fireball spiraling out of control and explode into a cloud of debris.

"Dammit!" Tracer yelled as he slammed the side of his cockpit with his left hand.

Haywire however said nothing and instead he guns right for Dice's killers effortlessly wiping them out in a volley of blaster fire sending them all to their own demise. Afterwards Haywire rejoins Tracer who was now in a solemn state of mind.

"C'mon Haywire…" he spoke with a calm but saddened tone "Let's finish what we started…"

_"__I'm right behind you."_

The two fighters broke off and made their way back to the Covenant flagship, already suffering from another run by the dwindling bombers that were preparing for another attack, but this time Tracer was going to make the finishing blow.

"Prep your missiles Haywire, those bombers are going to need all the firepower they can get."

Haywire made no response but does as he was told, the two fighters then revved their thrusters and bolts right back down towards the cruiser. They could see the damage wrought along the neck but it surprised them on how the cruiser was still functional after such tremendous carnage. The few remaining clone fighters continued to make their last effort against the interceptors they battled, this gave the bombers, Tracer, and Haywire an opening to attack the command ship and destroy it.

_"__This is it boss…" _Haywire spoke, he could see the end coming.

Tracer lets out a small but slow sigh "… Let's go, set power to engine and weapons."

Not another word was said, instead both fighters bolted right for the cruiser with engines at full thrust power. Tracer's eyes kept darting between the cruiser's neck and the approaching bombers and adjusting his velocity accordingly to their distance to the target. The cruiser then rotated several of its plasma batteries upwards towards the incoming duo before letting loose a volley of plasma bolts and pulse beams into the dark sky above them. But regardless of the wall of fire, Tracer and Haywire dodged and weaved through it all and continued on course refusing to turn away now, not after having lost so much.

"Missiles armed, alright we're going in!" the clone ace spoke with determination in his voice.

_"__I'm right behind you!"_

The bombers passes the optimal range of their bombs and drops another barrage of proton torpedoes along the hull breach, several bombs entered the breach itself and caused massive integral damage within. In addition to the bombs, Tracer and Haywire closes within range before launching their payload of concussion missiles and blaster fire into the gaping hole of the cruiser causing further damage. They continued their attack up until the last second where they immediately broke off to avoid crashing into the _Condemnation's_ hull.

As they placed distance between them and the flagship, Tracer glanced back through his cockpit to see the damage done. At first glance, the _Harmonious Condemnation _still remained intact until something changed. Along the neck of the ship small explosions began to erupt from within bursting out through the hull, the outer layering of armor began to turn and buckle as the structural integrity of the neck could no longer be sustained, then it collapsed. Like a decapitated head, the prow of the cruiser broke and tore away from the rest of ship and began its slow decent down to Azloc's surface, the main hull of the cruiser also began to drift away as further explosions took place around vital hardpoints and other locations, this led to the assumption that a primary conduit within the ship's electrical systems has been severed and is causing the core to overload. The ORS-Heavy Cruiser _Harmonious Condemnation_ was finally taken out of commission.

Not long after, a wave of cheering roared over the comms _"__Yeah-ah! Look at it go!"_

_"__It's going down! We did it!"_

_"__She's finally going down! That's the way to do it brothers!"_

_"__Yeahhah!"_

Tracer gave himself a small grin, the sight of the cruiser falling apart right before his eyes was payback for his lost brothers.

[_Assertor_]

The sight of the cruiser now drifting in the cold vacuum of space brought joy and triumph to the crew of the imperial dreadnought, Admiral Res grinned as he watch the remaining Covenant cruisers attempt to regroup and strategize a new method of fighting off the now overwhelming imperial forces.

Upon such a sight, he was not about to let an opportunity go to waste "We have them routed, all cruisers ahead full, push them out of the system."

He receives acknowledging responses from the remaining fleet and watches them move ahead to allow the Covenant no chance of recovery. Victory now seemed absolute.

"Sir!" a clone officer's voice barked, his voice seemed concerned.

Res turns his head back towards one of the men in the pits, despite the victory something felt amiss, "What is it?"

"We're detecting a massive anomaly on our scopes, something is building up _behind_ the enemy fleet…"

The admiral looks out to the Covenant Fleet and beyond, then he quickly noticed it. A surge of electrical energy darting across the nothingness of space itself. The surge continued to grow in intensity until the space around it began to turn and warp into something they couldn't begin to describe. Then out of the blackness, a violent turbulent storm of energy and spatial manipulation erupted into view, the storm tore and lashed out at any object close to it, regardless if it was simple stardust to starship debris. The warp grew larger and larger in size until it showed to be much larger than the _Assertor _and even the remaining imperial fleet itself.

"Recall all fighters and prepare to sound the retreat!" the admiral orders, now starting to recognize a vast potential threat.

"Recalling all ships!" a crewmember replies.

Res turns back to the portal as it continued to grow and grow in size and intensity, then the worst has come.

From the deep depths of the pitch blackness within the storm, a massive object began to appear, slowly climbing its way out of the storm and show itself to the galaxy. The appearance of a gargantuan bulbous prow erected from within, following it was a vast vessel of unimagined size and proportions, not even halfway through exiting the portal a lance of bright white light flashed from its bow slicing clean through one of the Imperator-Class Star Destroyers, its shields and heavy armor was nothing before such raw power.

The admiral watches as one of his most powerful ships fell without a fight, he swings his body around and yells to the top of his lungs "Order all ships to make an emergency jump to hyperspace, I don't care where they go! GET US OUT OF HERE!"

He swiftly turns back to the colossal ship as its entirety finally exits the portal, causing it to close, and now stood before them was a ship of Covenant origin and design, measuring at a staggering twenty-eight kilometers long from bow to stern, its hook-like prow inhabited the front as it connects to the rest of the ship's body via a neck much like the flagship they had just destroyed, littered along the immensely armored hull were pockets of weapon batteries and hangars each loaded with its own array of devastating power.

Without warning a second and third lance of light shoots out and claims a Venator and the last Imperator destroyers. Several cruisers in response rotated their turbolaser batteries towards the new threat and opens up with a torrent of heavy cannon fire but once they have reached their target they were greeted by an immensely powerful shielding system. Res already saw the huge mistake being made, the sight of the Covenant dreadnought caused panic among the ship captains forcing them to immediately forget about the smaller battlecruisers that were virtually right next to them. The battlecruisers took advantage of this shock and quickly tore down what ships were close by, reducing the imperial numbers to a dangerous low.

Fortunately some cruisers were able to make a successful jump into hyperspace, sparing themselves from the might of the Covenant, however there those who refused to run away.

_"__This is the cruiser Attrition, we're falling back to regroup with the Assertor" _a voice sounded, his tone was calm and collected but Res could still sense the utter fear behind it.

"No, I am giving you a direct order to evacuate the system! Save yourselves and-" but it was too late once he saw a fourth lance stream out from the dreadnought and struck the _Attrition_ down in a single blow.

He cursed himself under his own breath "_Dammit!_" but he remained calmed and quickly drew up a plan that was by all means not safe "Get me Tracer and all remaining wing commanders."

[Open Space]

Tracer couldn't believe it, they had just destroyed the enemy's flagship- seemingly seizing the day from the Covenant in victory. But then this dreadnought appears on a never-before-seen scale of size and utter raw power. Four cruisers were immediately destroyed upon arrival, leaving the Empire with only about ten vessels left in the fleet, the battle became lost the moment they had killed that command ship…

_"__Grey leader come in… Tracer are you there!?"_ a voice calls to the pilot.

Immediately recognizing it he responds "I'm here Admiral…"

_"__Tracer, the fleet doesn't stand a damn chance against that dreadnought. I'm placing all remaining fighters under your command to attack that monster and buy the fleet enough time to retreat. Once the last cruiser is away you and your pilots need to jump into hyperspace and get the hell out of here."_

Tracer hated the sound of that plan, attacking what is essentially a god in the battle of space superiority, but knowing the importance of the cruisers and the _Assertor_ he acknowledges "Affirmative Sir, we'll have that window for you."

_"__Thank you, all remaining Starfighters and bombers are rerouting to your location now. Good luck and may the Force be with you…"_

_"__Tracer…"_ Haywire spoke _"__This isn't going to end well is it?"_

"Don't worry Haywire, we'll make it out of here. Just stay close to me."

It wasn't long before fighters and bombers regrouped around Tracer, from there they began their travel to the Covenant dreadnought, about a hundred strike craft in total, but everyone knew it won't be enough.

_"__So what's the plan here?" _a nervous bomber pilot asked.

Another pilot responds _"__I dunno, I've never seen anything this massive before- how the hell were they able to build that?" _

_"__Must've had a lot of time and resources to do it, that thing must've took them decades to build…"_

"Alright everyone" Tracer began "We'll use the same strategy that helped us take down the command ship, we'll make concentrated runs along its neck and hopefully take it out the same way."

_"__Well it's the best thing we got…" _one pilot mumbled.

Then everyone began voicing their opinions in low mutters _"__This isn't going to work…"_

_"__How the hell are we going to do that?"_

_"__Those shields are going to be a huge problem."_

_"__Heavy casualties are expected."_

Hearing enough Tracer silenced them "All wings form up behind me, we got to buy the cruisers enough time to get out of here."

Without any open protest, the fighter squadrons followed Tracer up to a position above the gargantuan Covenant warship several miles away, the pilots were still nervous about attacking this beast head-on but they also knew that they stood a much better chance of survival than any cruiser, they were the fleet's only hope.

"Okay let's not waste any more time, all ships lock S-foils in attack position and follow me in."

_"__We're right behind you Grey Leader."_

_"__Let's cause some damage."_

The fighters changes course and makes a mad dash right for the dreadnought's neck, as expected the dreadnought's anti-air artillery rotates themselves to greet the incoming strike crafts and lets loose a barrage of pulse beams and plasma fire. The wall of fire quickly knocks out several fighters that were unfortunate enough to get caught, however everyone else were able to duck and weave through the incoming fire.

"Hang tight, everyone focus your fire on a single point. We're going to try and punch a hole right through the shields."

One bomber reports _"__Closing in on target… ion torpedoes armed and ready…"_

They quickly close the distance and like a choir of singers, they launch their payloads of ion torpedoes, concussion missiles, and blaster fire onto a single spot on the shields. Blasters and missiles did some damage but it was the torpedoes that managed to punch through and created a whole large enough for ships to pass through simultaneously in few numbers.

Once passing through the shield Tracer quickly barks an order "Red Squadron and Green Squadron, draw those gun batteries away from the bombers!"

_"__We're on it!"_ Red leader responds before he takes his squadron of fighters to make diversionary runs along the dreadnought's hull.

"Bombers, start making as many runs as you can, we need to cause as much damage as possible."

_"__Copy that, we'll make our runs on the neck. Let's go boys!"_

Haywire quickly reports _"__Boss, we got fighters coming out of the main hangar."_

Tracer looks through his canopy window to see multiple squadrons of Banshee and Seraph fighters mobilizing inside the gargantuan hangar "That's going to be our job, Haywire, all remaining fighters engage those bandits and keep them off the bombers."

In compliance, the remaining fighters that weren't assigned a previous task quickly moved to engage the Covenant that were now starting to deploy from the hangar bay. In moments the space around the dreadnought erupted into war between dogfighting ships, it even came to a point where the dreadnought had to lower its shields in order to accommodate the amount of fighters that were still trapped inside its bubble. This acted as both a blessing and a curse allowing both sides much more room to move about and commence their attacks more effectively. Fighters raced across the hull of the covenant warship as they danced through incoming fire either taking down enemy craft or knocking out weapon hardpoints located around the ship.

Tracer quickly tails and clips the wing of a banshee, causing it to crash into the side of the dreadnought's durable hull. But as he looks back out into the battle at large he could already see that the republic fighters were beginning to be overwhelmed by the superior numbers that still continued to pour out from the hangar. He looks further out to see the remaining cruisers turn about to make an emergency jump to hyperspace, unfortunately he was in time to witness another star destroyer be struck down by the dreadnought's powerful weaponry while another is already being dissected by a pair of covenant battlecruisers. The _Assertor _however held on strong as it tries to provide cover for the fleeing ships and thanks to the fighters' efforts and the lowering of the dreadnought's shields, the Mandator-ll Class Dreadnought rotated its turbolaser batteries towards the massive covenant warship itself.

"What the hell is Res doing? I thought he was supposed to retreat?" the pilot muttered to himself.

_"__Tracer come in… Grey Leader report!"_

"I hear you Admiral, I thought you were retreating? What's going on?"

He hears the captain sigh _"__There's been a change of plans, Emperor Palpatine is ordering us to press our attack."_

"What? Are we getting reinforcements?"

_"__No, we have to make do with what we have…"_

The pilot grew agitated "Admiral, you know that's insane. You need to get the fleet out of here before there is no fleet left to save."

_"__I know, the fleet is still following orders to retreat. But the Assertor will provide the necessary cover for their escape."_

"What!? Admiral, you need to get out of here too. We can get you enough time to jump!"

_"__That won't be needed Tracer, I've ordered all non-essential personnel to evacuate the Assertor, remaining imperial shuttles and corvettes will provide transport as they escape."_

Tracer then sighed, knowing he won't be able to change the Admiral's mind "…What can we do to help Sir?"

_"__Get your pilots out of here… We'll take it from here."_

He shifts his sights over to the _Assertor_, the eight kilometer long dreadnought was already moving towards the Covenant warship at flanking speed.

_"__Go… Consider that my last official order."_

Tracer drew his eyes away from Res towards the colossal covenant dreadnought and gives a tiresome sigh "… Alright…"

_"__Thank you…" _the Admiral spoke softly, a tone Tracer has never heard of in his time of service.

"I'll see you on the other side."

_"__Likewise Tracer, good luck, this is Admiral Res… signing off."_

Communications was then promptly cut, Tracer then turns his attention to the remaining clone fighters under his command "You all heard the Admiral, disengage and get the hell out of here."

_"__I'm not leaving the Admiral" _one pilot responded rather firmly.

_"__The Admiral gave us an order."_

_"__We're just going to abandon this?"_

_"__We're leaving the galaxy at the hands of a monster! We can't turn tail and run!"_

_"__We can't beat them at this point, best chance is to retreat and regroup, we'll have another chance at this."_

The pilots fell into dispute, arguing one another over what they should do, eventually Tracer broke the banter "Enough! I'll make this easy for all of you, if you want to stay and fight then give the Admiral as much fighter cover as you can. If you want to leave, then start making your emergency jump out of here."

_"__What're you going to do?" _one pilot asks curiously.

"Don't worry about me, just do what you're told."

_"__Right, we're disengaging."_

_"__We're moving towards the Assertor now, hopefully we'll do as much damage as possible."_

Tracer watches the fighters break up to their individually chosen paths, some fighters already jumped into hyperspace while others began providing cover for Res' ship.

The ace then looks over to his right to find Haywire still with him "Haywire?"

He could see Haywire look back at him and give a thumbs up _"__Where you go, I go."_

"Heh, alright, let's get out of here…"

_"__Roger, spooling up hyperdriv- Bandits up high!"_

Tracer's head shoots upwards catching sight of a squadron of Seraph Starfighters closing in "Break!"

The two imperial Starfighters broke from each other quickly dividing up the covenant squadron that began to pursue them.

_"__These guys just don't know how to quit!" _Haywire barked as he performs a barrel roll to avoid an incoming spray of plasma.

"We'll lure them towards each other, you take the ones behind me and I'll get the ones behind you."

_"__Roger, coming around."_

Tracer turns his craft about and quickly catches sight of Haywire and his three pursuers, priming his ship's cannons he moves in at high speed as does his partner. Both fighters closed in one another and just as they came within weapons range they fired upon one another just to avoid each other's shots and knock out the shields of three Starfighters while the other two remained untouched. The afflicted fighters pulled away in self-preservation but the two last fighters closed in and begins to tail the clones, letting loose are torrent of plasma fire despite the clones' efforts lose them.

_"__Ragh… I can't get these guys off me!" _Haywire barked.

"Stay with me Haywire! Start up your hyperdrive!"

"I'm trying, but I can't get a vector locked in!"

"Hang on Haywire, I'll get you that-"

A single bolt of energized plasma rips right through Haywire's port engine pod causing the whole module to set ablaze and explode, Tracer could only hear the scream as his partner's ship careens out of control into the emptiness of space.

"Haywire!? HAYWIRE!?" Tracer yelled, but there was no further response.

Without sparing a moment, the two seraphs turned their attention onto the last remaining clone "Alright you bastards, you're gonna have to work harder to get me… Let's see how you handle atmosphere."

Tracer immediately dives towards the planet below him, the covenant fighters were unmoved by this maneuver and stays right on their target. In the distance Tracer could see that the _Assertor _was now fully engaged with the Covenant dreadnought, volley after volley of turbo laser fire countered with storms of plasma torpedoes and lances of particle beams. Both seemed to be ripping each other apart but it was upon closer inspection that Tracer realized that few of the _Assertor's_ main guns were hardly even damaging the super-thick armor plating of the colossal vessel whereas each torpedo or energy projector blast effortlessly tore and sliced through the thick durasteel plating. At this point during the engagement, the covenant dreadnought was looming ever so ominously over the Mandator-Class Dreadnought now showing how diminutive the eight kilometer long imperial flagship was compared to the near twenty-nine kilometer long covenant behemoth. Soon he notices a faint light shimmering underneath the prow of the covenant warship, an eerie pinkish light that started to grow brighter and brighter in intensity, particles began to draw near it and the howls of energy became louder and louder with each passing second. Then in the next instant, a violent blast of concentrated energized superheated plasma shoots out from the underside ripping right through the entirety of the Mandator in seconds. The beam cleaves its way right through the spine of the whole ship from bow to stern leaving no resistance and in moments, the _Assertor_ was downright destroyed… and it never stood a chance.

A voice then came over the Imperial Comms Net _"__Commander Verga to all remaining Imperial forces, Assertor is down. I repeat, Assertor is down. All surviving ships proceed to make emergency jumps hyperspace, get the hell out of here."_

The last of the cruisers have escaped and those who stayed behind were destroyed, it would seem that Tracer was all on his own. But despite this he remains determined to now survive and escape, the only problem now were his two pursuers. He begins entering the outer-most layers of Azloc's frozen atmosphere but continues his dive towards the surface at maximum thrust. Diving faster and faster he now could see the ground coming up to him closer and closer. He closes in little over five hundred feet from the ground before immediately pulling up and break his descent however the seraphs and banshees were just as quick to break off as well and continue their attack. Tracer maneuvered through the snowy mountains hoping to elude his pursuers but they kept up with him despite his efforts, it would seem to him that covenant craft were just as adept in atmosphere as they were in space.

"Agh, just can't shake these guys… time to get out of here…"

Tracer pulls himself out of the mountains and aligns his fighter for orbit, immediately spooling up his hyperdrive for an emergency exit. However the covenant were still right on him when they open fired with several bolts striking Tracer's port thrust pod causing it to set aflame.

"Dammit!" the clone curses as his console began to whir in alarm to the damage the ship received.

Another burst of plasma fire racks his port wing and stabilizer causing the ship to lose control and begin rapidly decline towards the surface. The ship's console interface sparked and screamed in alarm as Tracer quickly grabbed hold of the controls and attempted to regain control of the fighter. But his efforts became futile as the craft came closer to the ground, he tried his best to avoid crashing right into the mountainsides and manages to get his ship out to a small open area. The fighter gave its last bit of energy and crashes into the snow with speed and force, violently ripping off the port wing and engulf the rest of the craft under the snow. Upon impact Tracer incidentally slammed his head against the controls and rendered himself unconscious.

It was however a few short minutes before he comes back to with an aching head to deal with "…uragh…damn… "

Coming to his senses he grabs hold of the emergency ejection lever and pulls it allowing the cockpit canopy to blow right off along with the snow that buried it. The sudden rush of the cold wintery winds swept in and overwhelmed the pilot however his suit provide him limited protection from the elements as he climbs out of his craft and retrieves a DC-17S carbine from the emergency provisionary crate stored in the craft along with some rations and other tools needed for survival.

"Eh.. this is just great…" he muttered to himself as he looked around his surroundings "Hopefully the ground force is still around, gotta find them before they retrea-"

His words were cut off by the sound of something massive approaching through the air, he looks up to find an Acclamator transport making haste towards planetary orbit but in moments he watches as a pillar of red plasma rains from the clouds and skewer the seven hundred and fifty two meter long vessel through its center hull. The piercing shot tore clean through and sent the ship sailing back towards the ground in a crash landing, one with very few survivors to be expected. Nonetheless that was his best chance of survival and therefore he begins making his way in the direction the assault ship had fallen.

"Just my luck…"

[Observatory]

"They are fleeing!" a Sangheili roars as he watches the imperial forces fall back to the entrance after having suffering insurmountable losses to the superior covenant soldiers.

Another ignites his energy sword "Do not let them escape!"

In compliance several elite warriors ignited their blades and charged after the clones that were now breaking into a full retreat, some were caught and impaled by the pursuing aliens who sought to wipe them out.

Gran watched as the imperial army, consisted up elite troopers bred and trained for combat, be run down and slaughter by this unstoppable foe. His men stood by in anger, they couldn't watch their brothers be torn apart and they hate themselves for not being able to help.

Shev followed his brothers through the installation's entrance and charges into the outdoor plains where the clone army was already in shambles after heavy constant bombardment from far off Wraith tanks, the imperial army numbering nearly a thousand has been reduced to a few hundred if not only a dwindling hundred. Despite this some troopers continue to fight on, one particular trooper lines up his rifle on 'Vadamee and fires off a shot that landed against the Sangheili's chest however the bolt refracted off of the elite's shields and in turn the clone was run through the chest by the twin blades of his attacker's sword.

Pulling the dead off his blade and tossing it aside, Shev barked to the remaining clones still standing "Heed my words humans! Your armies have been obliterated- your fleets are now burning before our might! You are the very remaining presence upon this planet, so I offer you an ultimatum. Surrender your arms- devote yourself in service to our holy Covenant and become a part of something greater, or die a warrior's death in the name of the Empire who now has left you abandoned."

The clones began looking to one another, some looked confused while others remained determined with their weapons aimed at the enemy, 'Vadamee adds "It is your individual choice to make…"

Gran and his men approached the Sangheili that surrounded the straggling imperials, the admiral gently pushes his way through the aliens until he came up next to 'Vadamee. Almost immediately the clones turned their glares to him, the only imperial among the enemy.

"Men, I urge you to stand down" he spoke "There is a lot more to this galaxy than we realize, with your help we can learn the secrets hidden from us since the beginning of time itself."

He watched as blasters were slightly lowered, he was beginning to slowly win them over. But before he could continue he hears the whirring hum of an approaching phantom dropship, the said ship swooped in below the clouds and came to a full stop right outside the congregation of soldiers where the gravity well opens allowing a squad of five elites to drop from the belly of the craft. Upon recognition of the lead figure, the special ops Sangheili stood aside granting the figure a clear passage to 'Vadamee as well as Cobol and his men when they noticed the shift in movement but when the gold-plated passed by them he gave them a momentary stare from behind his opaque visor. The figure passes on until he reaches 'Vadamee who then turned to greet the arrival.

"'Artamee… your arrival was expected."

"I have only come to seek the relic your command ship has reported in your absence, the very ship I tasked you of safekeeping but failed in doing so along with the majority of your fleet."

"The _Harmonious Condemnation _has fallen?"

"Yes, repeated strikes from small human attack ships caused the ship to fall in two. We have ships scouring the remains for salvage and survivors."

Shev bowed his head in disgrace "Forgive me Fleetmaster, I-"

But 'Artamee immediately slammed his arm across 'Vadamee's head causing his body to topple over onto the snowy ground, then the Fleetmaster roared at his subordinate "You have carelessly wasted vital ships and manpower that are already in short supply! Have you not yet realized our dire situation!?"

'Vadamee was beginning to prop himself back up "Forgive me…"

"You are fortunate that you have located this holy relic or I would execute you where you lay"'Vadamee then looks up to the clones "And what are you seeking from them?"

"Their allegiance, Fleetmaster, so that we may replenish our numbers."

"You wish to conscript humans into our sacred cause!?" Sav roared angrily "Is there no more honor residing within you!?"

'Vadamee stood back up to meet his superior face to face "Hear my case sire" he then motions to Gran and his men "They have willingly agreed to aid us in our renewed quest…"

The golden ranger seemed to have calmed down to a small degree "Have they now?"

"Yes Sire, they have activated the Observatory within and with it we can finally return home to the Covenant."

Immediately 'Artamee stopped, he needed a moment to process what he had just heard "There is a way to return home?"

"It is possible, but in order to achieve this goal we require the humans to help us in this endeavor."

'Artamee slowly turned his head towards Admiral Gran and thus approached him, the imperial did not take on step back as a sign of fear but instead held his ground until the elite came to a stop before him.

"Why do you wish to aid us human?" Sav spoke with a low menacing tone.

"We seek to learn more about these 'Forerunners' and hopefully learn of our past. Besides, it'll get you to leave Azloc and stop waging your war against the Empire. We both want the same thing here…" Gran answered.

"And you are willing?"

"On one condition, you ensure the safety and well-being of my men, including the troops you have surrounded now."

Sav glanced back at the armed troopers, still posed to strike, then back to Gran "If you wish to continue their survival then I suggest you speak them out of their alert state…"

"Gladly…"

Gran steps past the elite and comes before the clones that were still fresh from battle "Troopers, I am Rear Admiral Gran of the Imperial Navy, I'm ordering you to stand down and surrender your arms."

The clones looked towards each other until one figure spoke "Sir? You're asking us to give up?"

"No, I'm asking you to stay alive. You pull a single trigger and you all die, I will not endanger the lives of my men. Yours included."

"What's going to happen?"

"You'll most likely be taken prisoner, but I will ensure that you all will be treated fairly. To be more blunt you are the bartering chip in this deal, if they want us to help them get home then they will have to meet our demands. I've also received a promise that once this quest of theirs is completed we will be returned back to the Empire and everything will return to normal."

This prompted Sav to glance at Shev who now stood beside him "Is this true?"

"Yes Sire…" 'Vadamee responded.

Gran continues "So I ask you again, for your own sakes please stand down…"

The clones hesitated for a few more moments longer until they finally came to a decision and begun dropping their blasters onto the ground, they finally surrendered.

Sav orders his troops "Recover their weapons and prepare to transport them to the carrier _Long Night of Solace_" he then turns to Shev and now Gran who is returning to them "You two will show me this Observatory and find us a way home…"

Gran acknowledges "Of course…"

The trio begins to make their way back into the installation, meanwhile Covenant troops began seizing weapons and prepping the surrendered clones for transport back to their flagship.

The bloodiest battle of Azloc lll, one which proved to be the most costly for the new Galactic Empire, has finally come to an end…

**Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.**


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